Fallen Angel
by charimer-HM-bluesky
Summary: It's back to Hogwarts for optional 8th year and Hermione is forced to live with her arch nemesis, Draco Malfoy. However, they both have secrets which could bring them together. Has he really changed, or will Hermione kill him? and what happens when the past comes back to haunt them all? Rated R for some course language.
1. Returning, Eragon and A Wedding Ring

**A/N: Hey everyone, my first fanfic, please R & R etc. post DH, ignores the epilogue. it's been done before, but i felt like it.**

**thanks to everyone who finally forced me to put this up, all my 'proofreaders' who asssured me it wasn't as bad as I thought!**

**I'll put the next chapter up probably tomorrow, it's already written. I'll try to update as frequently as i can. Sorry for any spelling errors etc.**

**Disclaimer: unfortunately, i'm not J. , or anywhere near her level of awesomeness. so, i don't own harry potter. or the characters (it's a shame, i know). i also don't own the inheritance cycle (no, i'm not christopher paulini either). i also probably don't own anything you recogise. though i'd love to own Draco Malfoy...**

**Now that's out of the way, enjoy!**

**Charimer x**

Hermione Granger slid through the open door of the carriage of the Hogwarts express and sat down on the seat, in the corner. None of her friends even acknowledged her presence, but she was used to it. Harry and Ginny were talking about everything the other had missed in the year they had been apart again, whilst occasionally kissing each other sweetly. It was really quite cute, Hermione thought. Ron and Padma Patil were just sitting by the window snogging each other unashamedly. Honestly, was there no sense of dignity?

Sighing, Hermione mentally resigned herself to a lot of time alone this year. She reached into her bag and pulled out her favourite book, 'Eragon'. The binding was worn from all the times she had read it, but she still loved to get lost in the pages. She opened the book and began to read.

She had reached page 152 when the noise of someone walking past outside made her look up. She saw a flash of blond hair and a tall boy, and she frowned, wondering what Malfoy was doing back at Hogwarts. She would have thought he would be one of the many who had chosen not to return for an optional '8th year' (offered because of the disturbance of the war in their last year). She shook her head and was about to return to her book when she glanced out the window and suddenly remembered she had to get to the head's carriage.

The letter offering her the post of head girl had come in the second week of her holidays, and she had been so overjoyed when she received the letter. She had wondered who was head boy, and had sent an owl to Harry to ask him. Harry wrote back the next day saying he had been offered the post because, as he put it, 'I don't need any more attention'.

She slid her book back into her small backpack, and snuck out of the carriage, once again without anyone noticing her. Walking down the train corridor, she began to think back to her breakup with Ron after the battle. It hadn't exactly been friendly.

Still engrossed in her thoughts, she entered the head's carriage without even looking. Sitting down on one of the benches, she pulled out 'Eragon' again, planning to read it until the headmistress and head boy showed up.

She jumped when a drawling voice issued from one of the corners of the carriage.

"Really Granger, do you ever stop reading?" Malfoy lazily asked. She looked up to see him smirking at her reaction. 'Oh merlin' she thought. 'Not him!' before adding out loud

"Shut up Malfoy."

She returned to her book but had only read to the end of her page when the book was snatched from her hands.

"Malfoy! I'm warning you…" she threatened, standing up.

"Blimey Granger, don't get your knickers in a twist. I'm just looking!" he taunted her

He read the title on the front, and turned the book over to read the blurb before throwing it back to her, smirking smugly.

She caught it easily, to his surprise, and slid it back into her bag. He noticed, and looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Well, now I have to wash Malfoy germs off it" she said seriously. He rolled his eyes, and she sweetly smiled.

"I'm surprised you're not going to wash your hands. After all, they have mudblood germs on them now." She raised an eyebrow at him, and he winced slightly.

"Please don't use that word" he almost whispered, his jaw set.

"Why not? It's what I am, Isn't it?"

"Just, just don't." his eyes were dark and unreadable and he ran his fingers through his (no longer gelled and slicked back) hair in obvious frustration.

It was just at that moment that the carriage door slid open and professor McGonagall walked in.

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger" she acknowledged. Malfoy slid off the seat opposite Hermione and moved next to her (whilst still keeping his distance) to give McGonagall the opposite side of the compartment to herself.

"Well, I assume the two of you know why you were chosen." McGonagall stated. It wasn't really a question, but both Malfoy and Hermione responded.

"Yes" Hermione said, and at the exact moment Malfoy said "No".

Both witches looked right at him, and he seemed to feel the need to defend himself.

"What! Why me! I'm the ex-death eater coward who has persecuted most of the students here for six years, and who enabled the death eaters to enter the castle and kill Dumbledore! Why not precious Potter!" he was standing now, and fell silent, wishing he hadn't shouted quite so loudly. He was breathing heavily, and looked like he was either about to storm out or throw himself off the train. Or both.

Hermione shook those thoughts from her head, and ordered

"Malfoy, sit down." Her quiet authoritative tone seemed to get through to him, and he sat before even realising what he was doing.

"To put it simply, Mr Malfoy" McGonagall bluntly told him, "I, and also Dumbledore's portrait, believe in second chances. And in answer to your last question, Mr Potter refused the position."

Malfoy seemed completely speechless, and McGonagall took this as an opportunity to inform them of all their duties as the heads. After a long lecture which Hermione drank up and Malfoy obviously didn't hear a word of, she dropped the final bombshell.

"Oh, and the two of you will have your own dorm this year, the head's dorm."

Hermione's jaw dropped. She was expected to live with the ferret! The ferret in question had obviously been paying more attention than she'd thought, because he had heard this and looked completely dumbstruck.

McGonagall swept out of the carriage, leaving two very shocked 7th years behind.

After a few minutes Hermione reached back into her bag and pulled out her book again. She began to read hungrily, but suddenly realised she could feel Malfoy's eyes on her from the opposite seat that he had returned to.

Glancing up, she saw Malfoy staring at her while she read. When he realised she'd noticed he looked away pointedly. Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Don't you have a carriage to get back to?" she asked, somewhat rhetorically. Malfoy was giving her the creeps.

"No" he simply told her.

Hermione blinked, she hadn't realised this. This explained why he had all his luggage with him already.

"Don't you?" he fired back, with a sneer. "Or do you just enjoy my company so much." He drawled, making fun of her.

"No" she stated. Now it was his turn to look startled. He opened his mouth, probably to issue another smartass remark, but she cut him off.

"Shut up ferret."

They were both silent for almost an hour, as she read and he stared out of the window. Hermione had just reached page 289 when Malfoy broke the silence.

"Why is there a ring around your neck Granger?"

She wasn't going to answer this, when she suddenly thought, who gives a damn? I might as well tell someone who won't understand or care.

"It's my parent's wedding ring." She said, refusing to let the tears well up again in her eyes.

He just looked at her with stormy grey eyes empty of any emotion, and then looked back out the window.

"Is there a reason why you're wearing your parent's wedding ring on a chain as a necklace?" he asked, sounding honestly curious.

"It's not just a fashion accessory Malfoy," she told him sharply. "And it's really none of your business."

"No, I suppose it isn't." he said quietly enough that she almost didn't catch it.

Hermione was pretty startled by this; she had been expecting him to push the subject further, if only for more material to antagonise her with. Then again, maybe he just wasn't at all interested.

2 hours later, Hermione stored her book away, having just finished the tale of the boy and his dragon. She looked out the window, and was shocked to see that they were practically at Hogwarts already! Looking across the carriage, she saw the pale blond boy, and had to stifle a laugh when she saw he was actually asleep! She'd just assumed he was being quiet and ignoring her presence.

She stifled another laugh and leaned over him. She shook him and said

"Time to wake up Malfoy." He opened his eyes to see her smirking down at him, and scowled.

"You're wearing my smirk Granger."

"What, is it copyrighted now?" she joked, and then informed him that they were practically at the castle, and when the train stopped and everyone was off they would have to check it for anything anyone had left behind. She gave him the job of checking the front end of the train, and picked up her bag before leaving the carriage and a rather annoyed Draco Malfoy behind her.

She returned to her carriage, and upon entering she was pleasantly surprised that everyone had actually acknowledged her presence (apart from Ron) and was involving her in conversation. Slightly confused she leaned over and asked Neville about it. She grinned at her, and reported

"Well, me and Luna came in and realised what must have happened, and Luna told everyone off quite badly! It was brilliant!" he laughed out loud at this.

"Anyway, we're here, so you'd better go", she said once the train had stopped in the station. "I have to go check the train."

Everyone looked at each other, then all picked up their own luggage, and a piece of Hermione's. She blushed and tried to protest, but was cut off immediately when she opened her mouth. In the end she gave in, grateful to have such good friends.

When everyone was off the train she exited her carriage and began to check her end of the train. She found nothing but a bracelet (which she quickly returned to its owner with a small reprimanding note using a quick charm) and several opened sweet boxes. She cleared up with a flick of her wand in the offending carriage, and then got off the train. Malfoy was already finished and waiting for her with the last carriage. She was slightly surprised; she thought he'd have left without her. Getting into the carriage, they resolutely ignored each other, but she couldn't help noticing sadly that he still had his entire luggage. He didn't have friends like hers to take it. But then again, he didn't really deserve them.

They entered the great hall (obviously last) and separated. Hermione slipped into place next to Harry who was next to Ginny, and deliberately ignored Ron on her other side. After the sorting, and a small speech, the feast began. The sorting and feast were both as spectacular as usual, with the only noticeable differences being the sad lack of Dumbledore at the head table, and several empty seats at three of the house tables. People were honouring their lost friends silently, and she admired it.

After the feast, she left the great hall, entirely exhausted, and as she passed the door Professor Flitwick pressed a small note into her hand. Once she was out of sight, she opened it. It read,

_The head's dormitory is on the 7__th__ floor corridor; look for the painting of the four founders. The password is the Latin to the English phrase above the door. _

She had barely read the note when, with a beautiful piece of spellwork, it transfigured into several small butterflies which flew out of the nearest window. Smiling, she made her way to the corridor. She reached the painting, and three of the founders beamed up at her. No need to guess the identity of the fourth (scowling) one. Looking up, she saw an English phrase inscribed over the door; she smiled at the simplicity and uttered the three Latin words that would let her in.

She immediately headed for what was name-plated as her room, too tired to even have a look around. She waved her wand to transfigure her robes into some pyjamas, and simply fell down onto the bed, and was asleep almost instantly.


	2. Alcohol, Drugs and Self Obsessed Prats

**A/N: hey everyone! if you're reading this then thanks for bothering, this is chapter 2. probably wont update for a few days, i've already written the next part but i want to catch up a bit on my writing before i update more. otherwise i wont update for months! i admit, Hermione is a bit OOC in this, but hey, she's gone through an emotional time right... and i think it's not too bad, and its only temporary. anyway... enjoy... please R & R...**

**Disclaimer: i think i have to do another one of these... don't really know... anyway, i don't own anything except the plot, if you recognise it then it's probably not mine (unfortunately). what i'd give to own HP.**

**charimer x**

She awoke the next morning drowning in a huge mass of soft pillows and blankets. She blinked, and extricating herself from the bed she looked properly at her room for the first time. It was all very luxurious, and she knew most people would absolutely love it, but she felt entirely out of place. Sighing, she got out of bed and picked up her wand from the floor where she had dropped it last night. She transfigured all the furniture into much more simplistic versions in various shades of blue and silver. Weirdly enough, she preferred those colours over traditional Gryffindor scarlet and gold.

She forced herself to get dressed, and as it was a Saturday she took longer than normal, but in the end she was dressed and vaguely resembling a human at least. She glanced at the clock, and saw it was earlier than she'd thought, it was only half seven. She didn't mind, she could go and get some work done in the library. She left her room, assuming Malfoy was still asleep in his. She was wrong.

Draco was lying on the sofa in the living room, his tie dangling limply from his neck and his hair completely mussed up. He had dark shadows under his eyes, and there were three empty bottles of firewhiskey next to him. He was going to have one hell of a headache when he woke up. Sighing, she thought for a minute, before pulling out her wand and levitating him up to his room. She placed him in his bed and shut his door quietly after her. Grabbing paper and pen, she left a small note for him and opened his door again to attach it to the back where he would see it.

She cleaned up the mess in the living room with her wand, and grabbed herself a small breakfast before leaving the room.

Draco opened his eyes and winced at the light coming into the room. An unbelievably sharp pain racked his head, and he realised it must be about midday.

He rolled out of the bed, barely even noticing he was still in his clothes from yesterday. He wasn't really sure how he'd gotten there, but he assumed it was his new room. All he could remember was drinking last night on the sofa.

As he slowly regained partial use of his brain, he pulled himself onto his feet, and almost fell back again at the harsh pain that hit him. Groaning, he staggered over to the door and grabbed the small note attached there.

"Shit." He simply said as he read it. Granger must have found him and put him up here. He would never get her away from him after this. The note simply read-

_Malfoy,_

_I'll be back at about 6, please try not to pass out drunk again. Help yourself to some paracetamol in the kitchen cupboard for the headache you probably have right about now._

_H. Granger_

Draco groaned and hit his head against the door, and immediately regretted it when the pain intensified. He dragged himself to the kitchen, all along moaning about firewhiskey and damning the creator of it to the darkest pits of hell.

Opening the cupboard, he located a box labelled paracetemol. It was obviously some sort of muggle thing, but he was definitely not with it enough to cast a spell, so he pulled out a set of tablets. Popping them all out, he looked at them confusedly, and then tipped them all into his mouth. Sitting down on the floor, he waited for them to have some sort of an effect.

Hermione rushed back into the room, having realised she'd left her transfiguration textbook behind. Yes, she didn't have any homework yet, but she liked to do some background reading before lessons started. She jumped about a metre into the air when she saw an arm lying on the floor in the kitchen. Rounding the corner, she saw it began to Malfoy, and she quickly ran over to him. Looking around, she spotted the medicine packet, and realised what had obviously happened. The idiot!

Leaning over him, she realised he was barely breathing. She pointed her wand at him and cast a quick healing spell that would remove the effects, and for the second time in about 4 hours levitated him back to his room.

It was about seven in the evening when Malfoy made another appearance in their common room. Holding his head, he staggered out of his room and collapsed on one of the armchairs. Groaning again, Hermione pointed her wand at him and muttered a spell that would get rid of his headache and wake him up. She then settled back into her chair whilst occasionally glancing over at the pale blond boy across the room. The third time she glanced over she met his eyes unflinchingly as he looked over at her.

"What do you want Granger?" he drawled at her, and Hermione suddenly had the urge to curse him through several walls. She stared into his icy eyes with fire burning in hers of her barely suppressed fury.

"A simple thank you would be a start Malfoy" she hissed at him.

"Well, you're not going to get one, so keep out of my business" he shot back at her.

Hermione gripped her wand tightly in her pocket and tried to calm herself. Deciding it was pointless even trying to control her anger in his presence she stood up to leave before she did something she'd regret later. Picking up her book, she couldn't resist one last parting comment.

"You're only meant to take 2 tablets at once, you jerk! Or can't you read Malfoy?" she sneered at him, before striding into her room.

Hermione opened her eyes, and quickly sprang out of bed. She knew it was Sunday, but she so wanted to go and do some background studying for her ancient runes lesson, not to mention she was still trying to read through the entire library before she graduated.

She met Malfoy in the common room, and scowled at the back of his head before walking over to the portrait hole. Just before she left, she turned around to address him.

"If you're passed out again when I get back, you'd better hope you never wake up." She coolly threatened, before sweeping out of the room.

Hermione returned to the common room at around 5 o'clock that afternoon, planning to do a bit of reading before going down to supper. As she pushed open the door, the first thing she saw was a platinum blonde haired boy lying on the sofa again. Her spirits fell slightly, and a flash of anger rushed through her. She'd warned him.

She walked further into the room, and realised he hadn't quite reached the unconscious stage yet. He was still swigging from the bottle, and her fury receded away. She knew she'd go back to hating him later, but for now she just pitied him. She pointed her wand at him and sent him into a sleep that would last until the next morning, before levitating him upstairs again, hoping this wasn't going to become a habit.

She skipped dinner that evening; she was so absorbed in the book she'd got out of the library, a recent study of the development of magical civilisation. It was quite a formal book, and when she put it down, she realised it was already gone 11. She quickly got into bed, slightly worried about her first day of lessons the next day, as usual.

The next morning she packed her books and slid out of the common room before seven, not wanting to see the ferret she shared her living space with. She went down to breakfast, and sat for almost an hour nursing her sore head and tiredness with a cup of coffee and a piece of toast.

When the great hall began to fill up with other students, she left as quickly as she could, nursing a rather sore headache. She didn't know if the charm to remover headaches would work on the caster, and she didn't want to risk it, so she just put up with it. On any other day she would have gone back to her dorm to grab some medication, but currently her dorm was filled with a rather unfriendly unpleasant Slytherin. She headed to the library, where she stayed until time to leave for her first class.

She had one of the worst days she had ever had in Hogwarts lessons. Not only was a certain Slytherin shooting her dark looks and insulting her any opportunity he could, but she was paired with none other than Millicent Bullstrode the Slytherin for a potions partner, and her head was killing her. Put together with the fact that she'd had a nightmare the night before, and the fact that none of her friends even tried to make conversation with her, that Ron seemed to be pointedly ignoring her and Harry was too busy with Ginny, that she couldn't find Luna or Neville anywhere and found out that they were both ill and in the hospital wing, she was in a very foul mood when she went back to the common room. The sight of Draco Malfoy drinking straight from a firewhiskey bottle was just the last straw that tipped her over the edge and she completely lost her temper.

She strode purposely towards him and grabbed the firewhiskey bottle from him before hurling it against the wall across the common room. Malfoy just stared at her, and she screamed at him

"What's wrong with you!? Grow up and get over yourself, you self-obsessed prat!"

After this she relished the shock and slight fear in his eyes, before purposely striding over to his room, throwing the door open, and summoning all of the firewhiskey bottles she knew would be hidden in there to her. Maybe 20 full bottles flew towards her, and she grabbed the nearest three and threw them across the room in utter fury, then floated the rest back to the kitchen.

The majority of her violent anger gone now, cold fury overtook her, and she flicked her wand at Malfoy who was dragged into the kitchen after her. He looked absolutely terrified now, he'd never seen this side of her except for that one time in third year, and that was nowhere near as bad. She forced him to watch as she uncorked the bottles and poured their contents down the sink one by one, he felt his own anger flare up at this. How was he going to get any sleep now, any peace! She might as well have been pouring his lifeblood down that sink. He growled at her, warning her to stop.

Hermione reached the last bottle, and in a sudden burst of recklessness she uncorked it and put it to her lips, taking a long drink before pouring the remainder down the sink. Feeling her anger finally leave her completely, she flicked her wand at the furious boy to release him. Immediately he was right in front of her, staring right at her with complete and utter fury written over his features. She stared back coldly, but couldn't help thinking that he looked completely devastating with his emotions written all over his face and smouldering fury in his eyes.

"WHY the fuck did you do that Granger!"

"Because I wanted to! Because you deserved it!"

"Just shut up, you insufferable bookworm! What the HELL did you think you were doing! Do you have any idea what you did!"

"To be perfectly fucking honest Malfoy, I don't give a damn!"

Malfoy barely even noticed the swear word which Granger so rarely used. His eyes were fixed on her lips, or more accurately the few drops of sweet firewhiskey still on them. He moved his face nearer to hers inhaling her breath which had a hint of alcohol on it, before licking the drops off her lips. She froze, and then a moment later he found himself thrown across the room and Hermione Granger stormed out her hair flying out behind her.


	3. Nightmare, The Third Wheel and Pasta

**A/N: Hey everyone. Okay, I really apologise for my really prolonged absence from here. I was on holiday for a week, then when I got back I totally forgot about this. Anyway, please don't kill me. So here it is, finally, chapter 3. Enjoy!**

**Thanks to anyone who's actually reading this story by the way. I'd love someone to review, because I've only had 2 so far but they've most definitely made my day (days?). Well, without further ado, over to Hogwarts!**

**Charimer x**

**Disclaimer: Is my name J. ? Am I famous? Am I a goddess? Am I a flying ninja monkey? No, no, no and unfortunately, no. So, I don't own the characters, only plot. **

The day after the… incident in the kitchen (which was all Hermione allowed herself to think of it as) passed fairly uneventfully. Harry and Ron made more of an effort to include her, but she was more withdrawn and kept fiddling with the rind around her neck at all times.

The rest of the week passed without any drama, Malfoy no longer passed out on her sofa, and they both took to insulting and shouting at the other whenever they met. Strangely enough, it made both of them feel much better.

That Friday evening Hermione returned late to the common room exhausted and looking forward to a weekend when she could relax and catch up on some homework. She walked into the room, and for a moment felt a sudden sense of déjà vu before realising what was so familiar. Malfoy was lying on the sofa again, but this time she could see that he wasn't passed out, merely sleeping. Against her better judgement, she floated him back to his room and into the bed again. She remarked to herself that she was doing this a bit too often for her liking. She suddenly realised what was off about the room, there was spell residue from a lot of silencing spells in it. She stopped herself questioning it, telling herself she didn't really care, and left the room and immediately went to bed.

At about 3 in the morning Hermione was awoken from her slightly restless sleep by bloodcurdling screams. She leapt up grabbing her wand, and without a second thought rushed outside and into the Slytherin's room where the screaming was coming from. She burst through his door, and scanned the room for the danger, before she realised that Malfoy was simply having a nightmare. She looked at him, knowing she should just leave and ignore it. But it was early and she'd only just woken up, and against her better judgement she wanted to help him. She couldn't just go back to bed and leave him like this, he was bucking and writhing and screaming in complete heart-wrenching agony. She was too nice, that was her problem.

She walked over to him and placed he hands on either side of his head while making hushing sounds, just nonsense. It was something her mother had done… but no, she wouldn't think about that. He calmed slightly, and his screams died away as he relaxed back into his bed. After a minute or two he fell into a dreamless calm sleep.

Hermione removed her hands, and made to leave the room, but a strong hand snaked its fingers around her wrist and held her there. She started, and looked down, but Malfoy was still sleeping. Not wanting to wake him she tried to slip her wrist out, but he tightened his unconscious grip. Resigning herself, she pulled up a chair from the other side of the room and settled down in it next to him waiting for him to remove his grip. She was too bloody nice to wake him up, and she hated herself for that. She had been planning to wait for him to let go, but it was barely a couple of minutes before her drowsiness came upon her again and she slipped away into sleep.

Draco opened his eyes the next morning completely content for once in his life and totally unsure why. The feeling passed almost as soon as he woke, and he mentally shook himself. What the fuck was that? He didn't deserve to feel content.

Suddenly, he became aware of the small wrist in his hand and his heart stopped. Oh Merlin, what had he done! He took a few deep breaths before twisting his head. Granger was sitting in a chair next to his bed. He uncurled his fingers and released her wrist, and then lay back, cursing himself under his breath.

Hermione woke in the chair a few minutes later, and was confused for a moment before the sound of someone muttering brought her back to consciousness and she realised. She blushed, but realised with relief that at least Malfoy's hand was no longer around her wrist.

Bravely she opened her eyes, she wouldn't be afraid of him. She only just stopped herself cringing as she saw his face; it was cold and set in fury.

"What the hell are you doing in here Granger?"

She took a deep breath, telling herself she wouldn't get angry with him.

"Well…" she said hesitantly, not sure how to explain it.

"Well what? Just spit it out already."

She flushed slightly with anger, and got up out of the chair.

"You woke me up at some ridiculous time this morning with your bloodcurdling screams, so I came in to see if you were being attacked! I was only trying to help you ungrateful bastard." She practically shouted at him. "I saw you were having a nightmare, so I quietened you down, and then YOU grabbed my hand! So don't look at me like this is my fault."

He looked slightly stunned as she stormed out of the room. Draco hated to admit it to himself, but he felt a bit calmed by her presence and was almost regretful to see her go. He mentally shook himself again, what was wrong with him this morning! Maybe Granger did something to him. It was the only explanation he could come up with. He forced himself out of bed and down into the common room. Granger was in the kitchen making herself breakfast. Draco walked up behind her, the spoke in her ear making her jump and point her wand at him.

"What did you just ask me?" she queried, not putting her wand away but lowering it slightly.

"I said 'what did you do to me?'"

"I honestly have no idea what you mean Malfoy" she coldly replied.

"Did you put a spell on me to make me all 'calm'?" he spat back at her.

"No. and you're not exactly calm at the moment, so you're not making any sense."

"I meant last night."

"No."

"Tell me what you did!"

"Nothing magical, now get out of my face Malfoy. It's quite irritating."

He scowled at her before reaching past her to grab a green apple from the counter before stalking off to his room. She looked after him, irritated but slightly curious.

A few weeks later, Hermione went on a walk around the grounds with Harry and Ginny. Feeling slightly like a third wheel, she sat down on the grass next to the lake, and waved them away when they tried to sit with her.

"No, you two want to be alone, and to be honest I could do with some alone time too."

Both her friends exchanged a look and hugged her before walking off. She lay back on the grass and just thought. She let her thoughts drift to the self-obsessed egotistical Slytherin she lived with. He irritated her to hell, and he'd just infuriated her more over the past few weeks since the nightmare, but she couldn't help feeling sorry for him. Maybe it was just her naturally good side talking, but she wanted to know what he had nightmares about and help him. Groaning, she banished all thoughts of him from her mind. She looked up at the castle, and thought she saw a flash of blonde hair at one of the windows. Mentally berating herself she lay back again and closed her eyes.

A couple of hours later, she returned to the common room to find Malfoy sitting in one of the armchairs reading a letter. She took a moment to study his face before he noticed her. He had deep shadows under his eyes, and he looked absolutely exhausted. He obviously hadn't been sleeping.

"What do you want Granger?" he asked without even looking up.

"Nothing"

"Stop staring at me then."

She rolled her eyes before heading to the kitchen to make herself some dinner; she didn't feel like going to the great hall.

She made herself a quick bit of pasta and walked into the common room sitting down in an armchair as far away from Malfoy as possible and pointedly ignoring him. She finished her food while reading again, another of the books she had got out of the library. When she looked up from her book it was 8 in the evening. Dinner in the great hall would have just finished she absentmindedly thought.

With surprise, she noticed Draco was still in the corner of the room. He was staring into the fire now, and Hermione noticed how gaunt and thin he was.

"Have you had dinner?" she queried.

"It's none of your business. But… no."

Sighing, she got out of her chair and went back into the kitchen with her plate. He didn't even look up as she left the room.

About 10 minutes later she returned with another plateful of food. She walked over to him and put it down on the table in front of him. He looked up in surprise.

"Eat, now."

"Uh… thanks. I think." He said, looking at her curiously.

"Don't look at me like that. I just don't want you starving to death. Guess I'm just too nice."

He looked at her for a moment more, before reaching over and grabbing it from the table. He ate it quickly, and she wondered when the last time he had a proper meal was.

"If you're hungry, you could just use the kitchen."

"I… I don't know how to cook."

Hermione smirked at this.

"I'll leave some leftovers in the fridge for you. All you have to do is get them out and warm them up. Think you can manage that?"

He nodded.

"Don't think this means anything is different between us Malfoy."

"Why would I think that? You're still the same infuriating bookworm I hate, and love to irritate."

"That's more like the Malfoy I've grown to detest. Mustn't let people think you're going soft."

With this last remark she swept out of the room.

**A/N: Hi again. Hope you liked it, it's a bit short so apologies, it just felt right to end it there. I'll put the next part up within the next 3 days, I promise.**

**Love you guys,**

**Charimer x**


	4. Knives, Uniforms and Packages

**A/N: Hi everyone! In a very good mood now, I got ****2**** reviews on the last chapter! Brings my total up to 4 already! Anyway, I know I promised this by yesterday I think, but I got my results for my languages, textiles and science I took the end of this year (GCSE's) and I got a bit distracted... And then i had to do chores for my mum, I got paid, but I didn't have any time to even turn on my computer! Anyway, here's chapter 4. It's a bit longer than the last one, so enjoy.**

**Charimer x**

**Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this? I may be the owner of A stars in my sciences and languages, and an A in textiles, but J.K. unfortunately didn't give me HP as a well done present. So, I don't own it. Yet...**

"Draco Malfoy! Are you listening to me?"

"No"

"Ugh! You git! Why do I have to work with you!"

"What, would you rather it was someone like 'Won-Won'? God you're irritating."

They were having one of their almost routine 'conversations', where Hermione tried to get him to contribute to something but he just ignored her. They normally ended in shouting.

"Never bring him up again in front of me, Draco Lucius Malfoy." She hissed at him with her eyes narrowed.

"Huh. You're so touchy, guess it's a muggle-born thing. You need to chill Granger."

"You know what I think Malfoy-"

"I don't really care what you think."

"Well that much is obvious. Why won't you just listen to me for once?"

"Because I really don't care. You're just a bloody mud-… muggle-born."

Draco tried to cover his tracks by changing the word halfway through, but the damage was done. He actually saw the rage fly into her eyes, and backed away, for once slightly afraid.

"Spit it out Malfoy! I know what you think of me. You think I don't know I'm a 'mudblood'? You think I actually care what you think about my blood!"

She exploded with rage, and it was obvious that she'd been keeping it back for quite a while now. She advanced on him, and pulled a small knife out of her pocket.

"Shit Granger! Put that away! Have you gone totally insane!" he screamed back, now fearing for his life.

She lifted her other arm and let her sleeve fall back showing the scar on her arm reading 'mudblood'. He flinched seeing this; he knew how she got that scar.

"You see this scar! It reminds me every time I look at my own arm that I'm not good enough for this world in your kind's eyes!"

She put the knife blade to her hand and sliced her hand open, Malfoy gasped and stood frozen. She thrust her bleeding hand into his face and screamed at him again.

"Is this blood dirty! Do you see any mud in it! No?"

She grabbed his hand, he was still frozen, and she sliced his palm too.

"Is there any difference between your blood and mine Malfoy? Do you see any difference at all?!"

She pressed their bleeding palms together.

"Now there's mud in your blood too!" she spat. "See any difference now!? What are you going to do about it!"

She spat into his face before turning and running into her room. He thought he heard a small sob before the door was slammed and there was a loud crash on the other side. Then it went totally silent and he realised she must have cast a silencing charm. Malfoy finally unfroze and looked down at his palm with shock in his eyes as his whole world fell apart. There was meant to be a difference, and he was meant to care! Why didn't he care?

That was the moment he finally decided that he had been wrong. That there really was no difference, and a few rebellious tears slipped out of his eyes as he mourned for all the things that might've been had he not been so shallow minded and such a fool.

Hermione woke the next morning in her bed and immediately the events of the night came back to her. She sat up suddenly, and looked at her hand. She hadn't imagined it.

"Shit."

She held her head between her hands for a moment. But she couldn't hide away in her room forever, she knew that. So she reluctantly had a shower washing the blood off her arm and got into her uniform.

She walked out of her room prepared for the worst. She hung her head a little and peered out from behind her hair which she had in front of her eyes. She was surprised to see the common room cleaned and tidy. Why would Malfoy have cleaned up after them, she ought to have done that.

Seeing there was no one in the common room she breathed a sigh of relief that she wouldn't have to face him this morning. She was wrong. She had just stepped towards the kitchen when something stirred in the corner and she noticed him sitting in one of the armchairs. His eyes opened and focused on her. She cringed, prepared for the outburst that was bound to come. It didn't. After a few moments of awkward silence she tentatively said

"Uh… Malfoy, I'm-"

"Don't dare say you're sorry. Come here."

Slightly fearful, she obeyed. He rose from the chair and met her halfway. She expected him to shout, or hit her or anything than what he did. He pulled her into a slightly awkward hug for a moment before letting her go. She looked up at him, letting her confusion show in her face.

"I… we need to talk. I know I've been a git to you in the past, and I don't know if I can help it again. But I wanted to say I know I've pushed you too far, and you already have a lot to deal with. What I'm trying to say is that… well I guess I don't really believe any of that stupid stuff anymore. And I wish I realised that earlier. I… well…Merlin this is hard! Basically…" he looked at her and met her completely shocked eyes. "Well, I'm sorry."

"I…"Hermione wasn't sure how to respond. "I think I need to sit down…"

She sat on the couch behind her, and tried to take it in.

"You probably need some time alone to take all this in… so I'll go. And Granger-"

"Yes Malfoy?"

"It's a Sunday; you don't need to wear your uniform today." He smirked, and the familiar facial expression made Hermione want to laugh at the absurdity of it all. With that parting comment he left leaving Hermione to her own thoughts.

Draco returned to the common room a couple of hours later, and was strangely happy to see Hermione curled up in her favourite armchair reading a book. It was weirdly comforting.

She looked up as he walked in and gestured for him to sit down in the chair opposite her. He sat where she wanted and opened his mouth to speak but she held up her hand, telling him to be quiet. She read again for a couple of minutes while Draco stared at her, she looked so peaceful when reading. When she finally put the book down, only then did she meet his eyes. She was still wearing her uniform, and he chuckled at this.

"I agree with what you said earlier, we need to talk" she said. "We both need to get over our hatred for each other."

"I don't hate you" Malfoy interjected, surprising Hermione.

"Well, that's new to me. But anyway, we both need to stop insulting the other and getting on each other's nerves. We're going to be working together for the rest of the year, and I'd rather not spend the rest of my final year like it's been going so far."

"I know. And I know you can't forgive me, but I'm grateful you can at least try to look past what I've done."

"Look Malfoy. The thing is, I don't hate you either, and I've already forgiven you. I want to get to know you. I don't know if we could ever be friends, but we could at least get along."

She held out her hand to him, which she'd healed that morning. After a moment, he reached over and shook it. He pulled his arm back, but she snatched it and flipped his hand over. She looked at the scab on his hand and looked up at him.

"Why haven't you healed this? Do you want me to do it?"

"Thanks, but no. I think this is one scar I should keep. To remind me, if I ever forget."

She touched her slim fingers to the scab and traced the line. Draco relaxed, enjoying the feeling of another human being actually willingly touching him.

"Granger-"

"I'd appreciate it if you called me Hermione."

"Okay, but only if you call me Draco"

"Okay then."

"Anyway, Hermione, I just, well, thank you. You're the first person who's even tried to be decent to me, or understand me."

"It's fine Draco."

He smiled when she used his actual name, he hated being called Malfoy. It reminded him of his father.

"Are you okay?" she queried.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I meant generally, I mean I think you've had it pretty rough this past month or so."

"I've had it pretty rough all my life. It's nothing new."

"Why do you have nightmares?"

"The same reason anyone has nightmares. The past."

"I'm so sorry Draco." She sighed.

"What for?"

"For the fact that you never had the kind of happiness and childhood you deserve."

"Thanks. But I got everything I deserved."

With that last comment almost whispered so she only just heard it, he stood and walked into his room. Hermione sat for a moment, just trying to understand everything he'd been through.

Draco sat on his bed for a moment in his room, head in his hands. He cleared his mind, and lifted his head up. He resolved that from that point on he would try his best to change, to make a new life for himself. He knew he sounded incredibly cheesy, but he wanted to leave the past behind.

A few weeks passed without much happening. Hermione and Draco weren't enemies, but they weren't friends either. They were civil to each other, and no more. Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table every evening for dinner with her friends all coupled around her. She was happy for them, but couldn't help feeling annoyed at the way she'd become the third wheel so easily. No, screw that. She'd become a seventh wheel. Hermione laughed at her own internal voice. She had a strange sense of humour sometimes.

Hermione still made Draco food, and he cleaned up. It was as good an arrangement they were going to get.

Draco watched her sometimes, when she went out alone. He wanted to know why she never seemed to be with her friends, was always slightly sad and angry. He began to fit the pieces together in his mind, and decided he was going to do something to make her feel better. Seeing as she probably wouldn't like it if he just beat up her stupid friends, he decided to do something nice for her.

It was the night before Halloween that he decided to act on his wish to do something for her. He didn't really know why he was doing it. He just knew he wanted to prove, to someone, that he was better than everyone thought.

On Halloween night, he took out the package he'd picked up last time he was in Hogsmeade. He took one last look at it before taking it downstairs. He knew Hermione was out, so he left it on the table with a small note. Grinning, he returned to his room and waited for her to return.

Hermione pushed the door open and walked over to her favourite chair. She noticed a book lying on the table with a note on top. Frowning, she picked up the note and read it.

_Hermione_

_Saw this and thought you'd appreciate it. Just to say sorry, properly._

_Draco_

She smiled at the fact that he was being thoughtful, and put the note down. She picked up the book, and gasped when she read the title. She opened the front cover and flicked to the publishing page. Her face lit up in a huge grin, she couldn't believe it! She'd been wanting one of these for as long as she'd been at Hogwarts.

Draco emerged from his room, having heard her come in and saw her. He looked slightly nervous, as if worried she wouldn't like it. She ran up to him and hugged him, tight. His body tensed, but after a moment he relaxed into the embrace. She pulled away and on impulse stood on tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek. He blushed, and she smiled awkwardly.

"Thank you so much!"

"I thought you might want one of them. You've always loved that book."

"But how did you get hold of a first edition!"

"I found it in a second hand bookstore actually." He said blushing again.

She smiled up at him, before practically skipping away to put her recently received first edition copy of _Hogwarts, a History_ in her room. Draco put his hand up to his cheek where he could still feel her kiss lingering, and smiled broadly.


	5. Bullies, Balconies and Jerks

**A/N: Hey everyone! It's only been a couple of days since i last updated, but I felt like posting again. I got another review! Yay! (dances around the room interpretive style)! I need to stop putting so many exclamation points! I sound manic!**

**So, moving swiftly on... extra long chapter today, because it was that or miss out the last section, which would have worked but it just felt too short. I spoil you guys, you know. I will seriously try to post again soon, but I might get distracted again...**

**Really hope you like this chapter, it gets a bit angsty in the middle just to warn you.**

**Charimer x**

**Disclaimer: We meet again, evil copyright. One day, I shall destroy you, and then I shall be free to use all my favourite characters without having to waste my time on the dreaded disclaimer shield! MWAHAHAHAHAHA... but until then, activate disclaimer shield! (basically, I don't own it, please don't kill me!)**

The next few weeks passed easily. Draco and Hermione slipped into a kind of routine that enabled them to live together. They would occasionally talk, and though Draco never really spoke about himself, Hermione began to pick up little hints. She began to notice the little things about him, such as the way he would frown slightly when confronted with a difficult problem, and how he always had an apple for breakfast. Draco Malfoy intrigued her. He was a mystery, and she wanted to solve the puzzle about him.

One day in late November, she was out at the lake, alone again. Her friends had offered to come out with her, but she knew they didn't really want to. So she headed down on her own. She'd sat there reading for maybe 5 minutes, when she heard a commotion and looked up to see some sort of fight going on, on the other side of the lake. Not really a fight though, because the person on the receiving end wasn't even trying to fight back.

She jumped to her feet and ran around the edge of the lake. She arrived just in time to see five 6th year students throw a very familiar someone into the lake. She knew immediately it was Draco, from the white blonde hair. She watched him swim to the edge of the lake, and seeing he was fine she rounded on the bullies.

"Bullying is against school rules; you should know that by now"

"So what?" one of them replied cheekily. "He deserves it. And who's gonna tell on us?"

"No one needs to tell on you, because I, as head girl, have all the authority I need. So," she said checking their ties to see their house "that's 100 points from Ravenclaw-"

"100! Are you kidding?"

"That's 20 points each, and if you don't shut it now it'll be 50 points each." She pulled a piece of parchment out of her pocket and took down their names, before sending it to professor McGonagall informing her that they had detention that evening. "Detention this evening with professor Flitwick. And if I catch you doing something like this again, to anyone, I won't be so forgiving."

She watched as they went back to the castle, and sent the crowd who had gathered away as well, before going over to Draco.

"You okay?"

He coughed before answering.

"Yeah, I'm fine"

"You can't just let them bully you like that."

"What's it matter. I deserve it, like they said."

"No you don't, you idiot. Let me dry you off" she said pulling her wand from her robes. She pointed it at him and waved it, and the pond water dried instantly.

"Thanks."

He stood up and turned to go back up to the school, and Hermione gasped. There was blood soaking into the back of his white shirt. He turned around hearing her gasp and looked at her quizzically.

"Why didn't you say you were hurt?"

"What? I feel really faint…"

"You need to get to the hospital wing, now!"

Draco saw her lips moving, but no sound seemed to come out. He cocked his head at her, as black spots swirled in front of his eyes. Hermione saw him place his hands on his head, and then sway on the spot before falling sideways and collapsing onto the wet grass. She ran to him and quickly checked he was breathing, before casting a quick spell and running up to the hospital wing as fast as she could with him following her in midair.

Draco's eyes fluttered open and he blinked as he found himself in the hospital wing. His mouth felt dry, and he opened his mouth and a groan came out.

"Is he okay?"

"He lost quite a bit of blood, but he'll be fine. I'm keeping him in overnight though. Just in case."

He recognised that voice; it was Madam Pomfrey's voice. He focused on the first voice, it sounded like Hermione. He raised himself up, and the bed creaked. The two women turned to look, and came over to him. He had been right; it was Hermione and Madam Pomfrey.

"Mr. Malfoy, do you know what happened?"

"Um… not really…"

Hermione spoke up.

"He was attacked by a group of Ravenclaws, and I didn't see much but I think they did that, and they dropped him in the lake."

"It's no big deal. I'm fine." He tried to insist. Hermione turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"You do realise, your back was slashed open and you lost so much blood you actually fainted."

"Really? Oh. Sorry about that."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Well I guess it probably made a whole load of unnecessary trouble."

"Seriously Malfoy! You almost died, and you're apologizing! I almost preferred you when you were a stuck up git."

With this last comment she left the room, and Draco looked after her in total confusion. There was something strange about her; she didn't make sense to him.

Draco left the hospital wing the next morning, and decided before he went back to the common room he would go on a walk. He followed his normal route around the castle, before finally finishing by clambering out a window onto a hidden balcony. No one else knew about it, he could be alone there. But to his surprise, there was already someone else on the balcony. He recognised her immediately, and turned to leave her alone there when she spoke.

"Come here Draco."

He started, he didn't realise she'd heard him climb out onto the balcony. He walked over to where she was sitting and sat down on the floor next to her, leaving space between them so she'd still be comfortable.

"I found this place in third year. I used to come here every day to study, when Harry and Ron were ignoring me."

"I spent hours here in 6th year."

He looked at her and was shocked to see she'd been crying.

"Are you… okay?" he asked awkwardly. She didn't reply and only cried more. He looked around helplessly, before shuffling over to her on the floor and pulling her close. She cried on his shoulder as he hugged her. A few minutes later she pulled away and blushed.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Want to tell anyone? If you want to talk to someone then I can go and get Potter or Weasley for you, or anyone else…?"

"No! I mean, I'm fine."

"You need to talk to someone. Believe me, I know."

"I…I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have anyone to tell!"

Draco almost laughed at this.

"Seriously! You have all your friends."

"No, I really don't." she sighed, and held up a hand when he tried to argue with her again. "Luna and Neville are away, and I'm not friends with Ronald anymore."

"What about Potter or the Weaselette?"

"Well, Harry and Ginny, they've been trying to be friends with me, but I can tell they don't really want me. Maybe it's just me being insecure. I don't know, but I'm sure they want to be alone together, and they don't need me anymore."

Draco looked at her, and she knew he thought she was being ridiculous. He didn't push it any more though, and she was grateful for that. They sat on the balcony for maybe 5 minutes, before Hermione opened her mouth again and began to speak.

"I will tell someone" she muttered, more to herself than Draco. He looked at her, and she looked back nervously. "Would you mind if I told you?" she asked, and he was completely taken aback.

"What! Why?"

"Because you won't tell anyone. And I trust you. Don't ask why, I don't really know."

He sighed, before saying something he would probably regret later.

"Okay then. Tell me."

She looked into the distance for another minute, before starting her story.

"Today is the 29th November, isn't it?" she asked fiddling with the ring around her neck that he knew was her parents' wedding ring.

"Yes"

"Well, today is my parents wedding anniversary. Or it was. I don't know!" she fell quiet for a minute before starting up again. "At the start of last year, when we left to try and defeat Voldemort, I knew my parents were in danger." Draco shuddered at the name, but didn't comment on it. "I had to keep them safe. So I wiped their memories."

Draco looked at her and saw the sadness in her eyes.

"Have you restored their memories?"

"I can't! I've tried, and I really can't. Whatever I try, they don't remember anything."

"I'm so sorry Hermione. But at least they're safe. At least you can still hope that you might see them again."

Blinking, she looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I know how it feels to lose your parents Hermione." He told her sadly. "And I know that it always helps to tell someone."

"Have you told anyone?"

"No."

"What about your friends?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't have any. And even before, they weren't friends really. They were followers."

"You do have friends Draco." She told him, a slight flush creeping into her cheeks. He raised an eyebrow at her curiously. "I'm your friend." He looked taken aback, and was completely speechless. He didn't know how to respond, he'd never had a friend before. After a moment's hesitation, he asked her something.

"Is it okay if I tell you?"

"If it'll help you."

"Okay then. I know how you feel, and worse," he took a deep breath before continuing "because my parents are dead."

"What? When?"

"It was a couple of months after the battle." He stared into the distance as he continued. "We were staying away from the wizarding world; we thought it was for the best. But they found us. It was a couple of the death eaters who escaped from Hogwarts after the battle. We were careless, we thought we were safe. They got my father when he was returning to the little cottage we were living in. they put the imperious curse on him, and we didn't realise. He came back as normal, but the first thing he did as he entered the house was point his wand at my mother-" he broke off, seemingly unable to speak. He calmed himself for a moment and stared into the distance. After a few minutes Hermione broke the silence.

"Draco? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, I want to. It's just hard." He paused for a moment before continuing with his story. "Well, he killed her." Hermione gasped and put her hand over her mouth. She tried to say something but Draco continued before she could. "I don't know why they didn't make him kill me, but they got him to torture me before entering the room and killing him." His face had gone dark and expressionless now; his cold eyes were empty and hard. Hermione placed a hand on his arm and felt the chill of his skin. He looked down at her hand and back up at her with eyes that looked as though they had seen too much pain.

"I really am sorry Draco. I wish there was something I could do."

"You've already done enough. Thank you, for just being here. For listening, and caring."

"That's what friends do for each other." She stated as means of explanation, before reaching over and pulling him into her arms. They both hugged each other tightly, neither of them letting go. It was as if they were both in danger of drowning, and the other was the only one keeping them above the waters of their grief. So they clutched to each other as if they were each the others lifeline.

Draco Malfoy made his way to the great hall that evening for the first time that year. He had no intention of going inside however. He was there to see one person. He sat down in an alcove by the doors and waited for the person he needed to see to walk past.

About 10 minutes later, he heard voices coming around the corner, heading his way. He heard the voice of the one person he needed to talk to, and stepped out of the alcove just as they rounded the corner. The group of 4 Gryffindors halted. No, only three were Gryffindors, one of them was a Ravenclaw. Four pairs of eyes looked at him with mistrust, and a particular blue pair looked murderous.

"What do you want Malfoy?" the boy-who-lived asked him, the strain of attempting to be civil to him obvious in his voice.

"I want to talk to you Potter."

"Go ahead then Malfoy." He said crossing his arms and waiting.

"Alone." Draco clarified.

"You think we'll let you talk to Harry alone! You probably just want to hex him!" Ron shouted, and Draco rolled his eyes. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, and ignoring the fact that all four of them drew their wands, he handed it over to his enemy.

"Happy now? I'm not planning to hex him, and I'm unarmed." He addressed the three watchers, before turning back to the chosen one. Harry looked back at him, now curious as he looked down at Malfoy's wand in his hand.

"Go ahead you three. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"But Harry-"

"Ron, I think I can manage an unarmed Malfoy by myself, you know. Go on!"

Ron looked at Malfoy suspiciously before walking into the great hall with Morag MacDougal, who was presumably his latest girlfriend. Ginny followed him, glancing back, not worried but definitely curious.

"Now, Malfoy, what is so important that you would come and voluntarily talk to me?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Actually, Potter, I came to tell you that I think you're being a complete jerk-"

"Well, you can talk."

"Just shut up and listen Potter. I deserve it, yeah, but Granger doesn't."

"What does Hermione have to do with this? What did you do to her, Malfoy?!"

"I haven't fucking done anything Potter, you caused the damage here, you and your stupid adoring friends!"

"What do you mean?"

"I have to share a bloody dorm with her, and I can't help noticing that she's a bit lonely right now! Seeing as all of her so called 'friends' have abandoned her! Do you not care at all for her? She's falling apart in front of my eyes Potter. So go and find her, and put this right!" at this, Draco stormed out of the room, leaving Harry staring out at him completely shocked and still clutching both their wands in his fist.


	6. Reconciliation, Kisses and Grey

**A/N: Hello again. Unfortunately, I got no reviews from the last chapter, so I'm not sure what anyone thought of it. Well, I hope you liked it, and that you like this one. I won't let it get me down. Please read this chapter, and take the time to leave a review, it really makes me feel better about my writing.**

**I think I'm updating more frequently now, but I won't be able to keep it up for much longer. I reckon I have the next 6 or so chapters written, and then I've got to get down to writing. So I may slow down my updating a bit (maybe once a week/every 5 or 6 days). I go back to school next week and it's GCSE year, so I guess I'll be a bit busy.**

**Disclaimer: I may own a newly redecorated bedroom, but unfortunately HP and the other characters did not come with the paint cans. I DON'T OWN IT!**

Draco stormed back to their common room and spat the password at the painting of the founders. Three of them looked at him worriedly and curiously, Salazar Slytherin however just raised an eyebrow and sneered.

He pushed his way into the room, and immediately calmed down when he saw Hermione sitting reading again. She looked so beautiful, with her hair hanging over her face as she lost herself in the words. Wait, what was he thinking?! Beautiful? Sure, she was, but where had that come from? He shook his head, and then heard a knock at the portrait hole. His scowl returned and Hermione looked up to see him standing there. She looked a bit surprised, but smiled and asked him to get the door. He opened it to see Harry Potter standing outside rather awkwardly.

"Um…hello Malfoy. Is Hermione there?" he asked, fiddling with his robes. Draco looked behind him, and saw that Hermione's face had fallen when she had heard his voice. Draco looked at her, obviously after the answer, and she groaned inwardly.

"Let him in Draco." She told him. He stepped back from the portrait hole, and looked worriedly at Hermione before announcing

"I'll be upstairs, if you need me Hermione."

"Thanks Drake." He raised an eyebrow at this nickname; she'd never called him that before. She blushed, and he smiled slightly, despite the presence of someone he hated in the room. He turned to go up the stairs, but was stopped by Harry who held his wand out to him.

"You forgot this."

Draco took his wand back without a word and returned upstairs. Hermione followed this exchange intrigued, and resolved to ask Draco later.

"Um… well… Hermione, we need to talk."

"Do we?" she asked breezily, and Harry winced.

"Well, I need to tell you something. I want to tell you I'm really sorry, and I know I've been a jerk and everything. You're like my sister Hermione, and I don't want to lose you, but I've been a really awful friend, haven't I?" he confessed, it all pouring out of him. He'd thought about this after Draco had left, and he knew that Draco had been right.

Hermione looked at her best friend for a moment, and could tell he meant what he was saying. She smiled, happier than she'd been in a while before hugging Harry tightly.

"I've missed you Harry."

"I missed you too Hermione, though I didn't really realise it."

"I just have to ask, what brought this sudden realisation on?" she queried, she knew Harry well enough to know he wouldn't suddenly realise something like this without a prod in the right direction.

"Now, please don't kill me when I say this, but… it was Malfoy actually. This evening he came and found me."

"I guess that's why you had his wand then?"

"Yeah. You're not cross at me are you? Or at him, as much as I hate saying this, I think he was trying to be nice."

"Yeah. Actually, he does that quite a lot nowadays. He's changed Harry. Can't you give him a chance?"

Harry glanced at the door to Draco's room, and sighed before looking down at Hermione.

"You like him, don't you?"

"What! I… …but…" she spluttered at him saying this, and he placed a finger on her lips to stop her talking. "I can tell. And as much as I hate him, I think he likes you, at least to some extent. So, for your sake, I will give him a chance."

Hermione looked shocked and blushed, before realising Harry was talking again and focused her attention on his words.

"I have to go now, I'm sorry Mione. I want to spend some more time with you though, so I'm coming here to drag you to breakfast tomorrow whether you like it or not!" He teased her.

She nodded and hugged him goodnight. After he left, she sat down on the carpet, and put her head in her hands. Merlin, did she like him? Sure he'd been really nice to her, and they were friends now. And he'd listened, and he cared. And he'd gotten over his prejudices. And his eyes were so deep and- Oh God! She did like him! She had a crush on Draco bloody Malfoy, of all people!

She groaned at this realisation and almost jumped through the ceiling when a hand touched her arm and a soft voice asked

"Are you okay?" she lifted her head out of her hands to see Draco kneeling in front of her, worried but slightly amused.

"Um…" she said, her tongue confused in her mouth as she blushed again. Nice one Hermione, so eloquent. Seriously, 'um'?

Draco looked down at her as her cheeks flushed pink and he subconsciously leaned forward. He couldn't help it; she looked so beautiful, looking up at him biting her soft lip. His eyes flickered down to her lips and back up to her chocolate orbs. He could swear she leaned in to him as well, and her eyes never left his. She could feel herself getting lost in his eyes, and ignored the part of her brain that was screaming at her that she was getting too close, that this was Draco Malfoy, her childhood enemy of seven years.

He opened his mouth to say something, but he never had a chance as Hermione leaned in and he felt her breath on his face. He turned off the part of his brain telling him that this was insane, that it could never happen. She was too close, he couldn't think. So instead, he leaned in and closed the final distance between them and gently pressed his lips to hers.

Hermione responded after only a moments surprise, kissing him back. It was sweet and gentle, completely different to any other kisses she'd had. Her lips moved against his, and her arms snaked around him and into his hair pulling him slightly closer. His tongue traced her lip, seeking entry, and she granted it, parting her lips. The kiss became more passionate and Draco pulled her closer in to him as he placed his arms around her waist. Eventually, they pulled apart, gasping for air.

Their foreheads pressed together, they stared into each other's eyes. Draco opened his mouth to say "Hermione-" but she cut him off pressing her lips back to his. This time the kiss was short and sweet, and when they pulled apart Draco blinked at her, shocked. She blushed as she realised, she'd ended up practically in his lap.

As her mind returned from the fog of happiness she'd been in, she suddenly realised what she'd done. She'd snogged Draco Malfoy! She flushed, and panicked. She sprang up and ran from the room out of the portrait hole, leaving a very confused Draco Malfoy behind her.

Draco found her up in the astronomy tower. He tentatively approached her, and she lifted her head to look at him. To his horror, there were fresh tears on her cheeks.

"Hermione… I'm sorry."

"I'm so stupid!" she sobbed and he found himself rushing over to her and pulling her close into an embrace. She tensed, and he let her go immediately. "I'm really sorry Draco! I didn't mean to, I know this is going to ruin our friendship, and I don't want to lose you because I was being an idiot-" he cut her off placing a finger on her lips.

"Hermione Jean Granger, don't you ever call yourself stupid! You're not, and you never will be. What are you so afraid of?"

"I kissed you! I'm so sor-"

"You're apologising, because you kissed me? In case you didn't notice, I kissed you first! And believe me, I'm fine with that. More than fine, that was amazing!"

"You- you don't mind?"

"Mind! What do I have to do Granger, spell it out to you? I like you, and I like kissing you, and I have no problem with you kissing me either!" he told her, a playful smirk sneaking onto his face

Hermione blushed, and strangely found she was laughing! Draco looked at her curiously, and then started laughing with her. Chuckling, he held out his hand to her. She took it, and together they walked back to the dorm, both as happy as they could possibly be.

That night, Hermione was woken again by screams just as she had been almost a month ago. She practically jumped out of bed and rushed to Draco's room and over to him. She knew instantly he was in the middle of another nightmare, but it was even worse this time. She took his head in her hands, and stroked the sides of his face softly, whispering to him. He stopped screaming, and calmed down. Hermione relaxed, but stayed where she was as he settled back into the bed. Just when she was about to leave, Draco's eyelids snapped open, and his gaze caught her face.

"Draco?" she asked, worriedly. He still looked fearful, and she could tell he hadn't properly woken from the dream yet.

"Please don't leave me. Please. I don't want to lose you too!" he begged her, wild panic in his eyes now.

"Shhh, it's okay. It was just a dream. I'm not going anywhere." She comforted him and he visibly relaxed in front of her. His eyes closed again as he re-entered sleep, and she heard him whisper again before he lost consciousness "please don't go" again, but she might have imagined it.

She looked down at the tired and tortured teenager in front of her, and sighed. She felt her heart breaking for the pain he felt, and knew she couldn't leave him now. Hoping she'd be able to sneak out before he woke up, she let go of his head and snuck under the blankets of his bed, lying next to him. He pulled her close in his sleep, and she stroked his hair before feeling herself slipping into sleep herself.

Draco opened his eyes and recognised the feeling of happiness immediately. Sure he knew what had caused it, he shifted slightly so he could see next to him, and almost gasped when he saw Hermione actually lying in his bed. She looked so at peace, and he didn't want to wake her, so he gently slid out of the covers, careful not to disturb the sleeping beauty next to him, and padded softly over to the bathroom.

Hermione woke up to the sound of the shower, and blinked. For a moment she was confused, and she blinked, before realising where she was. She sat up, and shook her head to clear it and properly wake herself. She looked around the room, all the times she'd been in here she'd never really bothered.

It was identical in size and layout to her room, but he had replaced his posh furniture with grey cabinets and a storm coloured wardrobe. The bed was even smaller than hers, and a light grey colour. She guessed he didn't enjoy sleeping in a bed made for giants either. In all, the room was calm and peaceful, but also kind of sad, in that it lacked any colour. Everything was in shades of grey, and she looked around sadly. In a way this room symbolised his life, she realised, in one of her deep moments. Colourless and empty.

She groaned as she got out of the bed, it was way too early to be thinking symbolically. She heard a curious noise coming from the shower, and realised it was whistling! Draco Malfoy was whistling! She found this immensely funny and was practically rolling on the floor in mirth when he walked out of the bathroom wearing only his school trousers. He delicately raised an eyebrow at her peculiar behaviour, and she blushed when she realised he wasn't wearing a shirt. She found herself staring without even realising she was doing it.

"See anything you like, Granger?" he teased, and she blushed at being caught out staring at his bare chest. She walked over to him and playfully slapped his torso.

"Put a shirt on, Draco."

"Well, seeing as it pleases you so much" he said gesturing at his chest, "I don't think I will."

He gave her a playful shove, and she almost fell onto the floor before he caught her.

"Watch out Mione, make sure you don't fall over." He growled into her ear playfully. She pulled away from him as he righted her again, and smiled at him.

"You're happy this morning." She stated.

"Of course I am, I woke up to find you next to me." She blushed as she realised the slight implications behind that statement. "You're so pretty when you blush" he commented, quietly almost to himself.

"I need to go get dressed Draco." she said, and he sighed.

"As much as I regret having to lose your company for even a few minutes, I can't deny the truth of that."

"Oh, and Draco," she remarked as she left the room. "I was laughing because you were whistling. It was quite funny." She joked and left the room with a smile.

**A/N: Just to thank everyone who's left a review so far, so thanks to the unnamed guest, krazy-meow, Medea's Revenge, hottopic girl and JusTheUnderdog. You guys are all so nice, you make me blush! Thanks also to everyone who's read this/ added me to their story alerts or whatever.**


	7. Bonding over Books, and Truth or Dare

**A/N: Hi everyone! Really happy with the response to the last chapter, I got ****2**** reviews, and someone even reviewed chapter 5 (which didn't have any reviews) which really cheered me up! Since I was in such a happy mood, I thought I'd write some cheerful humour dramione, so I wrote a short-ish one shot, called the day Gryffindor came to visit. It's not a brilliant title, so I'm open to any suggestions for something better! please go and check it out, I'd love to get at least one review on it! **

**so, here's chapter 7! it's got a bit of a cliffie at the end, please don't hate me for it! meanwhile, I'll go back to wasting my life on pottermore and writing more fan-fiction!**

**Please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: If you missed the first 6 chapters of this or something, two points, 1) I don't own the characters or the setting, and 2) what the hell are you doing reading chapter 7 first? go read chapter 1!**

**Happy reading, **

**Charimer x**

Draco walked into the common room to find Hermione curled on a sofa reading another of her books. He walked over to the sofa and sat down beside her.

"What are you reading?" he asked and she looked up at him, blushing at how close he was to her. She flipped the book over and showed him the cover. "Is that related to the book you were reading on the train?" he asked seeing that the cover was strangely similar to that book.

"Yes, it's the third one in the series."

"Read it before?"

"Of course, but I like reading books more than once" she said, getting defensive. Obviously this had come up before in conversations.

"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with that. I like reading books more than once too." She smiled up at him, and he suddenly felt the urge to kiss her again. Shaking his head he glanced at the clock and at her again. "We need to go to class."

"Ugh. I hate mornings."

"Really? I would have thought you'd be one of those really enthusiastic morning people, who couldn't wait to get to class." He half teased, half queried.

"I'm not. I really hate mornings. And I haven't had breakfast yet!"

He stood, stretching slightly and strode over to the kitchen. "Apple?" he asked and she laughed.

"Okay then. What's with your obsession apples though?"

"I just like them. They remind me of home." He said as he emerged from the kitchen and smiled at her sadly. He chucked one of the three apples he was holding over to her and she caught it easily. He took a huge bite from another, pocketing the third. "Come on, let's go." He mumbled over the chunk of apple in his mouth.

"Oh… I forgot to say, Harry was supposed to be coming to take me to breakfast this morning. In fact, where is he?" just as she said this, they heard knocking at the portrait hole. Hermione opened it and Harry stood there looking awkward and exhausted.

"Hey… sorry I didn't come to get you, I overslept."

"How late did you get to bed last night?"

"Well, Ron was shouting at me most of the night because I 'ditched him', and then Ginny asked me where I'd been, so quite late."

"Never mind, I overslept too. We should go down to class. Coming Drake?"

"Sure." He said, and then walked over to her. He bent over slightly to whisper in her ear "since when have I been 'Drake'?" She blushed and punched him lightly on the arm. Harry watched this exchange curiously, and Draco looked up at him. "Morning Potter."

"Malfoy." He said nodding his head politely at him. "Come on Mione, let's go."

The two Gryffindors walked to classes with Draco following a distance behind as the two of them caught up.

Hermione returned to the common room late that night after spending the evening with the Gryffindors in their tower. Draco was sitting on the sofa reading. It was such a strange sight, she felt as though their positions had been reversed. She walked over to see what he was reading and chuckled lightly when she saw the cover. He looked up at her, startled.

"Hey Mione. You don't mind if I read this do you? You got me curious."

"No it's fine. Don't let me stop you reading." She said as she turned and walked up to her room, leaving him on the sofa reading Eragon.

Draco glanced up at the clock after putting the book down. He'd just finished, and honestly had to say it was an amazing book. He was shocked to see that it was past midnight. He hadn't realised it was that late. He stood up and stretched and was about to head up to his room before he was stopped by a whimper coming from Hermione's room. He stopped, and heard the sound of her crying. He made his way over to her door before pressing his ear up to the wood. He slowly opened the door and peered inside. He saw Hermione lying in the bed, crying, fast asleep.

He walked over to her, before leaning over and brushing a lock of hair off of her face. She relaxed slightly, and he lay down on the bed next to her, planning to stay until she stopped having the nightmare. But, after only a few minutes, he fell asleep and was pulled under by his extreme tiredness.

Hermione woke up the next morning to the smell of apples and pine. Weird, that wasn't what her room normally smelt like. That was how Draco always seemed to smell… she practically leaped out of bed as she saw Draco lying on top of the covers next to her. He was still asleep, and was sleeping calmly.

She glanced out the window and smiled as she saw it was snowing. She sat up in bed and grabbed her book from the table. It was a Saturday, so she didn't have to bother with getting up for a while longer.

Draco woke up about half an hour later and sat up looking around. He looked next to him and saw a dent in the bed where Hermione had obviously slept. He looked over at the window ledge to see her curled up on it with a blanket, reading. He swung his legs out of bed, and she looked up from her book at him. Her stare froze him in place.

"Mind telling me what you're doing in here?" she asked raising an eyebrow at him. He blinked at her, still waking up.

"I heard you crying last night, and you were having a nightmare. I was going to go, but I think I fell asleep." He croaked.

"Oh. Sorry."

Draco chuckled darkly, and she looked at him not even bothering to hide her curiosity.

"I was just thinking" he started, then chuckled under his breath again. "We're both pretty messed up, aren't we."

"Yeah. I suppose." She answered, looking slightly sad. Then her expression cleared and she laughed. "It's snowing!" she answered his raised eyebrows. He rolled his eyes at her, and left the room so she could get ready for class.

After class that evening Hermione returned to find Draco reading again, this time the second in her favourite series.

"You do know they're muggle books, don't you?" she asked tentatively, and he looked up at her with an unfathomable look in his stormy eyes.

"Well, obviously." He drawled, sounding uncomfortably like Snape had in their fifth year when Umbridge had asked if he had failed to get the DADA teaching post. "So? They're really good books."

"You really think so?" she exclaimed, a smile breaking over her face.

"Yeah." He said, and found himself smiling back at her.

She sat down on the sofa next to him, feeling slightly awkward, and he put the book down on the table and turned to look at her.

"We need to talk" she ventured after realising he wasn't going to be the one to say it.

"Okay then. But can we go somewhere else?" he asked, and Hermione agreed. They stood and left the room together as he led the way. After a few minutes she realised they were going to the astronomy tower. She frowned in confusion, and then climbed up the stairs behind him. They both emerged on top of the tall tower and sat on the cold floor. "I come here to think" Draco said, in answer to the question written over her face.

"Right. Well…" she broke off, not really knowing what to say. He rolled his eyes at her, and sighed.

"Essentially, I like you, you like me, but we're supposed to hate each other." He summarised in his no-nonsense way.

"Pretty much. Well, what do we do now?"

"Well, I wouldn't mind spending more time with you, but only if you want to."

"You mean… actually go out!"

"Well…yeah."

"Us, go out! Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger actually together….this is so weird."

"You haven't answered my question."

"What question?"

"Will you go out with me?" he nervously asked her, and she said nothing for a few minutes. She knew it was slightly cruel, but it was funny to see Draco so unsure of himself, so nervous.

"Alright then" she replied, as casually as she possibly could, though inside her spirits were soaring. Draco's face broke into a brilliant smile which she returned. After a few minutes of silence, Hermione suddenly had an idea.

"Let's play a game!" she suggested enthusiastically, but also slightly slyly. Draco chuckled at her childishness, but consented.

"What would we play then?"

"Truth or dare." She told him, a smirk not unworthy of a Malfoy appearing on her lips. He glared at her.

"You could have just asked me the questions."

"Oh shut up. I like truth or dare."

"Alright then, we'll play truth or dare. You go first."

"Okay then… Truth or dare Draco?"

"Dare." He replied, surprising her, and she tilted her head to the side considering what to dare him to do.

"I dare you… to throw your shoes in the lake and walk around barefoot for the rest of the day." He internally groaned, and made a face at her.

"What if I refuse?"

"You can't. Magical truth or dare" she replied, and he sighed. Resigned, he took off his shoes and threw them as hard as he could. They landed right in the middle of the lake, and he looked at her with a look which clearly said 'happy now?'

"Truth or dare?" he asked her, with an evil grin on his face.

"Definitely truth." She said, knowing she'd regret picking dare.

"Spoilsport" he muttered under his breath, before continuing. "Are you a virgin?" he asked outright, and she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Starting with the big questions are we?" she teased, before sighing and answering. "No, I'm not. Now, your turn. Truth or dare."

"Truth, I'm not taking any more of my clothing off…" he trailed off suggestively.

"Oh, behave!" she lightly scolded him. "Okay then, why do you hate Harry and Ro- the Weasleys?" he immediately tensed, and Hermione worried that she'd gone too far.

"I thought this was meant to be a light hearted game." He said raising his eyebrows as she blushed. "To answer, probably because I'm jealous. I mean, they have everything I don't. Friends and people who care about them, everyone likes them. And I guess I just was angrier at myself. It's just easier to take it all out on other people, you know."

She genuinely smiled at him, and he blinked, caught off guard.

"It's nice that you finally admitted that. And it's almost silly to think about that now."

"Moving on very quickly… truth or dare." He hastily changed the subject. She narrowed her eyes slightly at him, knowing what he was doing, but chose to ignore it.

"Dare." She said, responding to the challenge in his eyes. He smirked at her and drawled,

"Okay then, I dare you to go the rest of the day and tomorrow, apart from lessons, without using magic." Her mouth fell open at this, and she immediately regretted picking dare. But she now had to obey due to the charm she had cast herself at the beginning of the game.

She reluctantly took her wand from her pocket and handed it over to him. He took it and tucked it inside the pocket of his robes next to his own.

"I think that's enough for one night Hermione, time to go." He told her softly, realising how late it was and how dark it now was outside. The air was chilled, and she fought back a shiver before it betrayed how cold she was.

"You go on; I want to be alone for a moment."

"Okay then, but don't be too long." He said before turning to walk back to the stairs. Hermione walked over to the railings and leant on it, looking o0ut over the grounds. Draco had just opened the door to the stairs when he heard a sound behind him, and a slight squeak and he turned to see Hermione falling off the tower.

Hermione felt the wind in her hair as she fell downwards, and closed her eyes preparing herself for the impact of the ground, she didn't have her wand to stop her fall as it was in Draco's pocket. She could have sworn she felt something catch her lightly before she passed out cold.


	8. Wings, Walls, and Weighing him up

**A/N: Hello everyone! I apologize for keeping you waiting so long, especially with a cliffie, but I'm back at school now and I'm literally exhausted all the time! It's GCSE year... there's so much work!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed as always! 4 reviews on one chapter, that's a personal best! Calm down Aimee and krazy-meow! Please don't use the dreaded caps lock on me!**

**I hope you enjoy this, and that it brightens up your Monday a little. Please review, as always, and if you could check out my dramione one-shot, the day Gryffindor came to visit, I'd much a appreciate it. It hasn't got any reviews yet, and I'd really love just one!**

**Disclaimer: Blah blah blah I don't own characters blah blah blah or setting blah blah blah property of J. blah blah penguins blah blah blah.**

**Charimer x**

Hermione's eyes flickered open, and she was surprised to still be seemingly unharmed. There was someone holding her close to their chest, gently stroking her hair. She opened her eyes, before abruptly closing them she had to be hallucinating. Or maybe this was heaven. She opened her eyes again in curiosity, and saw the same thing as before. A pale blond angel was leaning over her, with stormy grey eyes she recognised, and complete with soft angel wings. His concerned eyes seemed to soften as she looked at him, and as she fully returned to consciousness she recognised the angel as Draco.

"Hey" she croaked at him, and he smiled down at her. "Not to be rude, but what's with the wings?"

He looked behind himself at them, and looked back to her shocked face with confusion on his.

"I was hoping you could explain that." he sheepishly admitted, and she sat up quickly, and everything came immediately rushing back. She had fallen off the astronomy tower!

"I'm guessing you caught me then?" she queried, and he nodded.

"We should go to the headmistress. She might be able to explain." He told her.

"Fine let's go." She answered.

When they reached the headmistresses office they realised they didn't know the password, but the gargoyle smiled at them and let them in anyway.

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger, sit down please." Professor McGonagall sternly told them before turning around and gasping at the sight of Draco's wings. She stood speechless for a moment, before they slowly faded away as if they'd never existed.

"Minerva, if I could talk to them?" a voice politely asked from behind them, and professor McGonagall nodded before stepping aside so they saw professor Dumbledore smiling down at them with his piercing blue eyes from his portrait. "I will ask you, Mr Malfoy. Explain to me what happened."

"Well, we were up on the astronomy tower, and I was about to go back to the dorm so Hermione could be alone for a while. But I heard a noise behind me, and saw Hermione fall off…" he trailed off, looking over at Hermione who was obviously going into some sort of shock, she was shaking slightly.

"Professor" she piped up quietly, "I know this sounds impossible, but the barrier broke." He fixed her with a stern gaze and looked right into her with his piercing eyes. After a moment, he nodded obviously believing her.

"But isn't it magically reinforced?" Draco asked, not understanding.

"Yes, Mr Malfoy. I am sure it will be looked into. Now, continue your story."

"Well, I kind of ran over to the edge, and there was this weird glow and suddenly I was flying down to her with huge wings." He stopped, knowing he sounded totally insane.

"Don't worry Mr Malfoy, I believe you. Now, did you happen to have Miss Granger's wand?"

"Yes" he responded, surprised that Dumbledore knew this.

"In that case, I believe her wand acted upon the threat to its owner, and the effects meant for her were obviously transferred onto you as you were in possession of the wand." He explained, and both teens nodded in understanding.

"Now, Mr Malfoy, if you could take Miss Granger to the hospital wing. Get madam Pomfrey to give her something for shock." Professor McGonagall said, terminating the meeting, as Dumbledore winked at them before vanishing from his portrait.

Hermione and Draco left the heads office both shocked and trying to wrap their heads around what had just happened. After they had walked for a few minutes, Draco stopped and grabbed Hermione's hand making her stop and look at him. He looked sad but serious, as he told her,

"We can't be together Hermione." Her heart stopped when he said this, and she felt tears coming to her eyes.

"Why not?" she whispered.

"I saw you almost die. I was there and you would have died if it wasn't for luck. And if I hadn't taken you up there, this would never have happened. If you stay around me, you'll get hurt. I'm not safe."

She blinked at this confession, and the tears escaped her eyes and began to slip down her face. She shook her head at him, disbelief all over her face. All she could think of was the cold agony of rejection. It felt like when Ron had left, all over again. She felt so alone and abandoned. She let out a small sob before turning on her heel and running away from him as fast as she could.

Draco knew he had to let her go, not go after her, if he wanted her out of his life. But he couldn't help himself, and he had to get her to madam Pomfrey as well. So he ran in the direction she had gone.

He found her curled up in a corner of a classroom on the third floor. She looked so pitiful, and Draco immediately regretted what he had told her. He knelt down beside her, and she looked up. There were so many emotions in her chocolate eyes, betrayal, pain, grief and anger mixed into a swirling pool. Her eyes focused on him, and immediately she crawled back away from him.

"Leave me alone!" she shouted at him, but he only moved closer to her. Her eyes darted around the room in fear as she backed up against the wall. He put out an arm to comfort her, and all her emotions burst out of her. The magic, without a wand, poured out of her blowing him away. Her head began to clear as she looked at the destruction left behind him as he had flown backwards with suck force he propelled through the castle walls. She began to scream.

Draco came back to consciousness in the hospital wing, and was immediately aware of pain all over his body. He opened his eyes to darkness, and waited for his eyes to adjust. It was obviously the middle of the night; he hoped that meant he'd only been out a few hours, rather than a few days.

He shifted slightly, and something stirred in a chair next to him. He looked over and saw Hermione in the chair, sleeping. She looked exhausted and tear tracks were visible on her face. She opened her eyelids, and her chocolate eyes met his stormy grey ones. She began to cry again and Draco lay stunned.

"I… I'm so sorry! I thought I'd lost you! I thought I'd… Killed you!"

"Hey, it's okay." He comforted her, and she got up out of the chair and he reached his arms up. They were painful, but he hugged her anyway, and she fell against him sobbing uncontrollably.

"Please don't leave me. Don't ever leave me." She mumbled. Then, "you don't want to stay with me." She was just mumbling nonsense, but Draco caught this last part.

"I'm so sorry for what I said to you. I didn't mean it, I swear. "He told her, his face buried in her hair. He inhaled her sweet scent, and she hugged him tighter.

The door opened behind them and a crack of light came through. Harry poked his head around the door, and if he was shocked by what he saw he hid it well. Draco looked at him, telling him with his eyes that this was a bad time. Harry nodded and his head withdrew and the door closed.

Draco lay staring at the ceiling a few hours later. Hermione had fallen asleep on him, and even if he had the strength to move her he wouldn't have. The door opened again, and Draco was sure it would be Madam Pomfrey, but it was Harry back again. Draco looked at him and gestured with his head to Hermione. Harry noticed and quietly approached.

"Potter." He whispered in greeting.

"Hello Malfoy. I was looking for Hermione, but I guess I found her. There was a rumour going round that she fell off the astronomy tower." Harry whispered

"She did, but I caught her."

"What are you doing here then?"

"She chucked me through a couple of walls afterwards. Magically, of course."

"Blimey. Why'd she do that?"

"I told her it was dangerous for us to see each other, and that she'd get hurt and I didn't want to risk it."

Harry looked at him for a few minutes as if weighing him up.

"I know you meant well Malfoy, but that was a bit of an idiotic thing to do."

"Yeah, I realised." He whispered, meaning to end the conversation there. Harry just looked at him again, before saying,

"I suppose you're not so bad. I mean, I get that you've changed, we all have."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, a bit ago, I told Hermione that I'd give you a chance for her. So this is me, giving you a chance."

"Oh. Well. Thanks I guess… Harry."

"You're welcome, Draco."

With that, Harry turned and left the room, leaving Draco to lie there and think while Hermione slept. After a few minutes, he also slipped into sleep.

The next day passed easily, Draco got out of the hospital wing and he and Hermione passed the day lazily in to common room, reading and relaxing. The school had finished for the summer holidays, and most people were going home that day. Hermione went to find Harry and Ginny that evening to spend some time with them. She found them in the Gryffindor common room and spent some time chatting with them. Hermione was about to leave for the evening when her friends exchanged a look and turned to her.

"Hermione… we need to tell you something." Ginny said, and Hermione looked at the two of them expectantly.

"We're not coming back after Christmas." Harry said sadly.

"Why not?" Hermione asked, shocked.

"Ginny got an offer from the Holyhead harpies to join their team, and she's taking it, so I thought I'd go with her and take up that offer from Kingsley to start auror training."

"Oh. Well, I'll miss you."

"You don't mind do you?"

"No, it's fine. I'm happy for you!" she told them with a smile on her face.

"We'll be back for Christmas day for the ball like everyone else. So you'll see us then."

"It's fine really. Well done Ginny!" she said, hugging the two of them before turning to leave.

As soon as Hermione left the Gryffindor common room her face fell and she made her way dejectedly to her common room. She was extremely happy for her friends, but she knew it would only mean she would be even more alone. But at least she'd have Draco now, so it wouldn't be so bad, would it?

She chastised herself as she reached the portrait, she was mentally rambling again. Muttering the password, she pushed open the door and relaxed at the sight of Draco sitting on the sofa. She wandered over to him and sat next to him. He continued reading, she'd really got him hooked on the inheritance series, and he was almost the whole way through the third book.

Draco reached out an arm and wrapped it around her waist pulling her closer. She relaxed into him, perfectly comfortable.

"Are you okay? You seem a bit… upset." He asked tentatively.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just being silly and emotional."

"Come on, what is it?"

"Harry and Ginny aren't coming back after Christmas."

"Oh, I'm sorry Hermione."

"Nah, its fine. I've still got you." She said, meaning to sound confident and fine, but her voice became a bit smaller on the last sentence. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she blushed.

"It's fine Hermione. You don't have to be insecure, I'm not going anywhere. I'm your boyfriend remember!" he teased.

"Thanks." She said, seriously. He looked at her for a minute before gently putting down the book. Hermione was pleased to note that he actually used a bookmark rather than damaging the spine of her poor book. She knew it was a silly thing to think of, but she really liked it when he did that. No one else seemed to quite understand her obsession with books other than him.

He turned back to her and lowered his face to hers before gently kissing her. She kissed him back, and it quickly became more passionate. After a minute, she pulled away to breath, but Draco carried on kissing down her neck and behind her ear. She let out a small moan as his teeth grazed her earlobe.

After a moment he pulled away, his eyes darkened slightly. Hermione blushed at the way he looked at her, like she was some sort of goddess.

"Hermione?" he asked hesitantly after a moment.

"Yes?"

"Well, I know it's kind of implied with us being together, but I wanted to ask you properly. Will you go to the Christmas ball with me?"

She sat for a moment slightly stunned by how insecure he'd sounded asking that question, like a little boy afraid of rejection. She put a hand on his cheek and whispered, "Yes." He grinned before capturing her mouth again. When they pulled apart both of them were breathing heavily and grinning widely.

Hermione glanced at the clock and realised it was really quite late.

"We should probably go to bed." She said reluctantly. He raised his eyebrows at her suggestively, and she blushed realising how her words could be interpreted. "Shut up. I didn't mean that, and you know it."

"I know, but you're cute when you blush." He told her, making her blush even harder and Draco's grin grew even more.

They both went up to their respective rooms, and got ready for bed. Draco came to her room when he was sure she was changed.

"Well, goodnight."

"Can you stay?" she asked, obviously very tired but sounding so vulnerable. "I haven't been sleeping to well recently." He looked at her curled in bed in a ball and made his way over to her. He poked her and said,

"Move over then." he climbed into the bed next to her, and after a few moments awkwardness he put his arm around her and pulled her into a comforting embrace. After only a few minutes the both of them fell asleep holding each other.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! does anyone on here actually go on pottermore, cause I've been wondering! If you do, just put your house in a review, if you feel like it! I'm Slytherin (ob-viously)!**


	9. Pillow fights, Tomboys and Ballgowns

**A/N: Hi everyone! I know I disappeared off the face of the earth for about 2 weeks, but here's the next chappie! It's overdue, so its a bit longer. I got four reviews from the last chapter! Yay! it probably won't be a while until I post again, I'm back at school and swamped with homework, and I've almost caught up with the amount I've written...**

**A couple of people responded with pottermore houses, it's nice to know I'm not alone! Snakes for the win! if anyone wants to add me, I'm QuillSky31461 **

**happy reading! **

**Disclaimer: "A quick spelling lesson. let's spell Charimer!" *boy raises hand* "miss, is it, J-K-R-O-W-L-I-N-G?" "no Billie, it's not! Everyone with me, It's C-H-A-R-I-M-E-R! well done class!"**

**Charimer x**

Hermione awoke to gentle patterns being traced on her arm, and immediately snuggled closer to the warm body next to her. He put his head on top of hers, lightly nuzzling her hair and whispering, "Good morning."

"What time is it?" she asked into his chest.

"About nine. I think everyone's already left."

"Oh." She said. They lay there in comfortable silence for maybe ten minutes, before Hermione pulled away and got out of the bed stretching. Draco watched her, and when she turned around and saw him gazing at her practically in worship she blushed. "Why are you staring at me like that?" she stuttered.

"Because you're beautiful." He said making her blush again.

"Oh shut up." She said jokingly and hit him with a pillow.

"Oh, starting pillow fights are we? Better run away before I get you back." he said with a glint in his eye as he grabbed a pillow and slowly approached her. She let out a squeak before running to the bathroom. He looked at her across the room smirking and she stuck her tongue out at him before shutting the door to safety. She heard him shout from behind the door, "I'll get you later Granger! You can't hide forever…"

She emerged from the bathroom a bit later when she was sure Draco had gone, and got into some casual clothes. She walked out of the room, and immediately Draco pounced on her with the pillow. After a moment he dropped it and tickled her instead. She squirmed whilst laughing uncontrollably.

When he stopped she looked up at him. She had ended up on the floor and Draco was practically on top of her, his hands hovering over her ribcage. She pushed her head up and captured his lips, and he responded with as much passion as he had. She felt herself getting lost in the kiss, and forgot she was lying on the floor with him on top of her. Her hands took on a life of their own, roaming over his chest and down his back. She played with his hair and he gasped slightly into her mouth. He pulled his mouth from hers and trailed kissed down her neck and along her collarbone. It was her turn to gasp as he lightly bit her, and all thought flew out of her head.

After a few more moments of bliss he pulled away from her, and she blinked slightly stung by his rejection. He saw the hurt flash in her eyes momentarily, and chuckled stroking her face softly.

"It's not that I don't want to. I just don't think it's the right time right here and now." He told her soothingly, and Hermione suddenly realised again that she was lying on the floor with him on top of her. She blushed and he stood and helped her up. "It's nice to know that you're ticklish though. I might use that…" he said raising an eyebrow and she blushed. His constant flirting made her quite flustered, but she loved it all the same.

"Oh, shush." She said as he pulled himself off the floor and pulled her up. "How are you finding the books you keep stealing from me?" she asked. He grinned back at her not even bothering to deny it and honestly said

"They're very good."

"Glad you think so."

"I was meaning to ask about that, do you have the 4th one. I've been looking for it but I couldn't find it in any of your book collections."

"It's not published yet; it's out in a couple of weeks."

"Oh. Okay then."

"Cheer up, I'm sure you can wait that long." She teased, and he dramatically made the point of having an enormous sigh.

"I suppose I'll just about make it through."

By this time they had already left the dorm room and were almost at the great hall for breakfast. When they reached the doors she looked pointedly at him.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Shouldn't you drop my hand now?" she queried, and he contemplated it for a moment before smiling.

"Nah. They'll all know sooner or later." He said before pulling her into the hall.

The next few weeks passed easily. Both Hermione and Draco were happy to simply enjoy each other's company, and have peace and quiet for once. Before long, it was the day before Christmas Eve and Hermione woke late as usual. Expecting the normal lazy day, she was shocked when she walked down the stairs yawning to find Ginny there, beaming at her.

"Ginny? I thought you weren't back until tomorrow at for the ball?"

"Well I thought I'd come back early, seeing as you must be bored out of your mind here! Then again… how are things with your Slytherin boyfriend?" she asked striding over to her and grabbing her wrist before dragging her into her room.

"Things are fine…" she replied narrowing her eyes at the redhead. Ginny practically squealed with glee. Hermione stared at her like she'd gone insane.

"What! I think you two are such a cute couple! Harry told me." She explained.

Next moment there was a knock on the door and after Hermione called for the knocker to come in Draco Malfoy himself poked his head around the door.

"You okay Hermione? Sounded like someone just died…" he trailed off noticing Ginny in the room.

"Morning Malfoy." She said extending her hand out for him to shake. He took it raising an eyebrow fractionally.

"Morning Weaselette. I assume you've come here to steal Hermione."

"You would assume right." Ginny replied with a sparkle in her eyes that Hermione really didn't like.

"Um, do I get any choice in this?" Hermione tentatively asked.

"Nope." Ginny replied before shooing Malfoy out of the room.

"So, what are we doing?"

"We are going to get you a dress for the dance, seeing as I don't think you even currently own a skirt, let alone a ball gown."

"Well, neither do you" the bookwork smartly responded.

"I'm a tomboy, which makes it okay. And I'll have you know I already have a dress I borrowed. And there's no way going shopping with you dressed like that, I do have some standards."

"Honestly, if you weren't one of my best friends I swear I would have pushed you off a tower by now. And I didn't realise I'd actually have to leave the dorm today, so obviously I didn't know to dress nicely. Maybe if you'd warned me you were coming!"

"Calm down Hermione, and get changed. I'll be waiting for you downstairs; I got permission to go to Hogsmeade with you."

"Seriously, why am I friends with you" she muttered before Ginny left the room and Ginny laughed.

"Because you love me really. And you know I don't mean it."

"Yeah whatever, get out so I can change!"

Ginny grinned before walking out the door to give her some privacy. A few minutes later she walked out looking slightly more presentable and Ginny deemed her acceptable. Hermione scowled at this and Ginny just chuckled and dragged her out of the portrait. She quickly shouted out a goodbye to Draco and she swore she heard a chuckle before the portrait closed.

"How'd you get in anyway?"

"They let me in, obviously recognised me as your friend." She said with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. Hermione groaned before Ginny dragged her out of the castle down to Hogsmeade. She wasn't looking forward to a full day of looking for a dress. Though it was true, she did need to get one. Thinking this, she gave in and allowed herself to be dragged away. Maybe she'd have time to stop in at a bookshop and treat herself. And she needed to do her Christmas shopping! 'How had she forgotten that?' she thought.

Hermione staggered through the portrait hole and collapsed on the nearest sofa. She'd just got back from her shopping trip with Ginny, and to say it had been tiring would have been an understatement. Ginny insisted on going everywhere, and making Hermione try on practically every dress to find the 'perfect' one. To be honest, she was happy with practically all of them; as long as it looked vaguely presentable she didn't really care.

"Stupid, annoying friend…" she grumbled under her breath, slipping her shoes off and relaxing back into the cushions. A chuckle from across the room surprised her; she opened her eyes to see her roommate obviously trying not to laugh at her. She narrowed her eyes at him, and his smirk grew. They both stared each other down for a few moments before both looking away, Draco chuckling and Hermione blushing slightly.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad…" he mocked her.

"It was. You've never had to go shopping with her. She's bloody insane!"

"Come on, lighten up Granger. I'm sure you enjoyed it really."

And he was right, she had, deep down, enjoyed the company of a best friend again, albeit a hyper and slightly mental one. Instead of admitting he was right, not wanting to inflate his already overlarge ego any further, she simply lay her head back again and relaxed into the soft sofa. It was warm in the common room, and before she knew it she'd fallen asleep.

She woke the next morning in good spirits. It was Christmas Eve, and Ginny and Harry were back. She was looking forward to spending some time with them, if only she could persuade them to let Draco join them. He wasn't that bad, and she didn't want him to be left alone around Christmas. Not to mention she felt she needed the support if she was going to hang out with a couple like those two, she'd rather not feel like the third wheel.

Glancing over at the clock, she realised it was well gone 10 and practically leapt out of bed. She rushed to get dressed, realising she'd overslept, and dashed to the common room to grab herself some breakfast. Grabbing herself a cereal bar she dashed over to the portrait hole and wrenched it open.

"Sorry Ginny, I forgot you were coming and overslept." She apologised to the girl on the other side of the door.

"I've been waiting half an hour. No one answered the door!" she complained, then took one look at Hermione and laughed. Hermione frowned.

"What?"

"Your shirt's on inside out and your hair is a complete mess!"

"Oh." She said glancing down at herself.

"Good job I'm here then" Ginny replied before dragging Hermione roughly into her dorm.

"What are we doing for," she glanced at her watch quickly, "6 or so hours before the dance?"

"I am getting you ready."

"Ginny! I'm not a Barbie doll!"

"A what?"

"Oh, never mind. But why do we need that long!"

"You'll see" Ginny replied cryptically, facing Hermione now with her hands on her hips. There was a laugh from the armchair, and Hermione turned to face an openly amused Draco Malfoy.

"Do you always skulk around in chairs in here Draco?!" she queried, slightly irritated. He tilted his head slightly, looking at her, before replying.

"Most of the time." He smiled his winning smile at her, and Ginny chose that moment to speak out.

"Okay, enough flirting. I'm still here you know." She told the two of them, and Hermione blushed while Draco just leaned back in his chair visibly unaffected. Ginny shook her head at the two of them, despairing.

"Come on Herms."

"Ginny! Don't call me that!" Hermione insisted, but Ginny just ignored her and grabbed her hand to drag her into her room. Hermione mouthed 'help' to Draco, and she could see him trying to hide a laugh. Just as the door to her room slammed shut, she heard his self-control give out and he started laughing.

After roughly 6 hours of what seemed like torture to Hermione Ginny finally stepped back and declared her 'perfect'. Hermione gave her the death glare before putting her hand up to her hair. Ginny grabbed her wrist.

"No touching! You'll ruin it!"

"Ginny! It feels strange!"

"But it looks amazing. Now, go and get your boyfriend, he's probably waiting for you down there."

"Where's Harry?" she asked slightly suspicious.

"Erm…" a knock on the door cut her off.

"Weaselette, are you two done yet? Potter's at the portrait." Draco called through the wood, to answer Hermione's question.

"Let him in!" Ginny called through to him. Hermione could imagine him scowling at this, but she heard his footsteps as he went over to the portrait and let him in.

"Potter."

"Malfoy." They curtly greeted each other, and then there was an awkward silence.

"Where are they?" Harry finally asked, and Draco responded with a smirk.

"They've been holed up in Hermione's room for the past 6 hours."

"That sounds like something Ginny would do."

Silence prevailed again for another few moments, before the door to Hermione's room opened. Ginny came bounding out, and Harry's jaw practically fell off.

"Wow Ginny, you look amazing!" he told her and she smiled at him pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Nowhere near as good as Hermione looks." She proclaimed grinning. At that moment Hermione's voice came from around the door.

"I heard that Ginny. You're so modest." She sarcastically told her.

"Come on Hermione, do I have to come and drag you out?" Ginny told her as Draco and Harry listened to the two girls slightly bemused but very amused.

"Ginny… only if you promise not to laugh at me."

"Hermione, no one will laugh at you. You look amazing."

"Alright! I'm coming out. But if anyone laughs, I will hex you Ginny." She told her, before she stepped out from behind the door and walked out of the room, blushing bright pink. To her surprise, no one laughed. Ginny beamed at her, obviously saying 'I told you so', Harry looked quite shocked, and Draco…

Draco felt like he'd just been hit by a train (not literally). He didn't even know it was possible for someone to look so perfect. His jaw was practically on the floor as he drunk in the sight of her. He blinked a few times, unable to take his eyes off her. His mouth was unexpectedly dry, and he swallowed.

"You look great Hermione" Harry told her, realising Draco was obviously completely speechless. Ginny gave him a critical stare and he looked back at her. Hermione heard him whisper 'what' to her and she just shook her head. Hermione made her way up to Draco who still hadn't said anything. She reached him, and she reached up and placed a finger under his chin and closed his gaping mouth. He seemed to come back to full consciousness and took her hand before kissing it gently.

"You look absolutely radiant." He told her, and her blush grew even deeper, if that was even possible. Harry cleared his throat awkwardly and gestured for them to leave the room. Draco took Hermione's arm and both went down to the great hall following Ginny and Harry.


	10. Balls, Sugar Highs and Extreme Clichés

**A/N: hi everyone! okay, so I'm really really sorry for not updating recently... seriously, you probably thought I'd died or something! but I'm still alive, and I have finally got around to updating (I know, about a month late, please don't hate me!). I've finished my first piece of history coursework/ controlled assessment, only one more to go, and i have an English presentation on Friday and a clarinet grade 6 exam in like a month, and I still don't know the pieces. and science mocks coming up. my life is very hectic right now... well, at least I'm updating now, and it's extra long to make up for it. **

**I have recently discovered the joys of danisnotonfire and amazingphil on you-tube if you haven't watched them, seriously, go watch. now. just out of curiosity, is anyone else here a Danosaur? or a Phillion? or a plain old phangirl? 'cause I'm now all 3... I shouldn't do this to myself in GCSE year...**

**I got a twitter! please go follow me, cause I'm lonely on there with my follower total of... zero. None of my friends have it... i only got it to stalk people...**

**I'm CharIMer Bluesky, or CharIMerESB, obviously.**

**I love you guys! thanks for the amaaazing response to the last chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this world. no seriously, it all belongs to like my parents, or the queen. only my imagination is you can't have that. and Dan. he's mine too. all mine. MWAHAHAH... anyway. Slytherin side of me kicking in there.**

**Charlie x**

Draco still hadn't let go of her hand, and she was perfectly content to let him hold it. They got a lot of disdainful looks from all the students who had returned solely for the ball and hadn't yet heard of their relationship. When they walked into the hall all eyes were on them and there were angry whispers and stares. There was a shattering of glass from one side of the room, and a clatter from the other as a plate and a glass simultaneously fell on the floor as two very different people dropped them. Hermione blushed, and looked up at Draco.

"Everyone's staring." She whispered looking around worriedly, as they made their way over to the food tables.

"Let them. I want them to all know you're mine." He growled, looking at her with a look that made her melt a little inside. There were more whispers behind, and Draco distinctly heard someone whisper 'I bet she'd under the imperious curse. She'd never go with him. He's probably got a plan to kill us all'

Hermione stiffened beside him, proving she'd obviously heard the whisper too. She looked up at him, worried he might take it badly. He was staring at her thoughtfully, and then he leaned in to capture her lips in a kiss. The hall instantly went totally silent, and as he pulled away both noticed the professors pushing their way through the crowd who had gathered, obviously preparing to diffuse a fight.

"If you don't believe" Draco stated, his voice loud and cold "that I am with Hermione simply because I asked her to the ball and she agreed, maybe that will change your mind. That and the fact she is willingly my girlfriend."

The silence broke at this and immediately the hall was full of noise. Half the hall (the kinder and more forgiving kind) smiled and clapped politely. Several female groups applauded very loudly, declaring that they made a perfect couple. Quite a few girls fainted at the fact that Draco Malfoy was no longer single and for the taking, and had to be comforted by their dates who looked rather peeved.

The rest of the hall (which was mainly Gryffindor and Slytherin boys) were shouting insults at the couple, and many were being restrained from punching the couple in the face. Pansy Parkinson, who had earlier been the one to drop the glass, pushed her way through the crowd and managed to get up to Draco and slapped him.

"How dare you!" she screeched. "We were meant to be together, and get married!" she announced, to which Draco paled and looked positively ill. Meanwhile, Ron Weasley, who had earlier dropped the plate at the same time, pushed himself out of Dean Thomas's restraining arms and marched over to Hermione. Dean sent a very apologetic look to Hermione, who had noticed Ron striding over.

"HOW COULD YOU! YOU TRAITOR! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US, TO ME! YOU LYING, CHEATING BITCH!" he shouted at her. Draco caught the end of this and pushed Pansy (who was staring daggers at him) away back into the crowd. He rounded on Ron looking murderous, but before he could do something very drastic Ron was sent flying into the air and dangled there, the work of someone's levicorpus spell. Looking around, he and Hermione saw Ginny standing there, pointing her wand at him, with utter fury upon her face. She screamed at the crowd

"SHUT UP! NOW‼" and immediately silence fell. She pointed her wand at her brother and told him in a voice full of hidden threat and torture "if you ever insult Hermione again I will castrate you. I mean it. Then she turned on the rest of the hall, her fiery red hair a curtain behind her.

"Right all of you. You," she said pointing to the girls who had obviously just returned to consciousness, "get over yourselves. Yes, Draco is taken. Deal with it. You," she said pointing to the excitable girls who had clapped enthusiastically, "we all appreciate your support but please stop squealing. And the rest of you, if any of you have a problem with Draco and Hermione as a couple, then you'll have me to deal with. And believe me; I could kick your ass any day. And I'm sure my boyfriend will back me up. You all know who he is, don't you. And for those who don't, NEWSFLASH, its Harry freakin' Potter, man-who-defeated-the-most-powerful-dark-wizard-of-all-time-a-total-of-6-times-and-killed-him!" she broke off after this large speech and looked around as if daring anyone to challenge her. When no one did, she announced "well, go back to whatever you were doing before you all lost your minds", before spinning around and walking back to Harry to peck his cheek as he grinned at her. As they walked off into the crowd, she flicked her wand at Ron who was released from the spell and fell to the ground, before picking himself off the ground and running as fast as his legs would take him out of the hall. No one was sad to see him go.

After a moments shocked silence, the hall returned to the cheerful party atmosphere it had before, although the atmosphere was slightly tenser. Pansy Parkinson was also seen storming out of the door, and Draco turned back to Hermione to see a tear track down her cheek.

"Oh shit" Draco muttered under his breath, before saying to Hermione "please don't cry Hermione, you shouldn't cry over him. He's not worth it." He wiped the tear away with his finger gently and softly kissed her cheek. She smiled at him apologetically.

"Sorry. I shouldn't let him get to me like this." She apologised to him, and he waved her apology away with a 'not needed'. After a few moments, she visibly brightened as music she recognised began playing.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked her and she grinned and took his outstretched hand before allowing him to lead her onto the dance floor.

They danced together for most of the night, content to enjoy each other's company and ignore the people around them. At midnight, they were standing outside, taking a break from dancing. They heard the clock chime, and everyone inside celebrating. They looked at each other.

"Merry Christmas" they both whispered to each other, before Draco wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in for a soft kiss.

They kissed for a few more moments before they heard the announcement in the hall. They listened in, and upon hearing that the party was finishing Draco took Hermione's hand and walked with her back into the hall. They walked to the doors, but just before leaving they were ambushed by an overly excitable Ginny who pulled Hermione into a hug. Harry popped up behind her with an apologetic expression in his eyes. 'She's a bit hyper', he mouthed at them, and Draco, who had never seen her hyper before grinned. However, Hermione, who understood the danger, blanched slightly. Ginny released her from the hug, bouncing on her heels, before turning to Draco and pulling him into a huge embrace as well. He looked totally shocked, but Ginny seemed oblivious. When she pulled back it was as if she hadn't noticed she was practically hugging a plank.

Ginny started to talk, but she was speaking so fast none of them could make out what she was saying. Hermione wisely cut across her to say

"Ginny, I'm going up to bed." Ginny pouted slightly, acting exactly like a three year old, before waving goodbye to her and Draco and grabbing Harry by the hand. He shot Hermione a very scared look before she dragged him away. Draco laughed by her, and Hermione turned to look at him. "You've never seen Ginny hyper before, have you?" she asked him.

"Well, no?" he responded, and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Believe me; we need to get out of here before she comes back." Just as she said this, there was a large explosion over the other side of the hall. "Or she destroys the castle."

She led him briskly out of the hall and down towards the dorms. He kept glancing behind at the hall, and he asked her,

"Was that explosion her?"

"Probably. Last time she got this hyper she caused that explosion in the Gryffindor common room that meant we had to sleep in the great hall for two days. You probably heard about that."

"Oh. When can we stop being scared?"

"Probably not until tomorrow. If the castle's still here that is."

They reached the dorms and entered, Slytherin's portrait scowling at their intertwined hands, Gryffindor looking slightly disapproving, Ravenclaw looking stately but obviously pleased that Hermione was wearing her house colours, and Hufflepuff looking completely delighted. As they entered the room, Hermione yawned.

"I'm going to bed, I'm exhausted. See you tomor- well, later today."

"Merry Christmas," he said with a smile at her.

They both went into their respective rooms, and as soon as they were out of their formal clothes and in their pyjamas, both fell into an instant and dreamless sleep the moment their heads touched their pillows.

Hermione woke up later that morning in a very good mood. It was 10 in the morning, it was snowy outside and it was Christmas day! And she'd had a brilliant time last night at the party. Thinking of the party, her thoughts strayed to Draco. She'd had a brilliant time with him at the ball last night. She smiled to herself, and then eagerly got out of bed. Getting dressed as quickly as she could, she all but bounced out of her room.

She knocked on Draco's door, but upon receiving no response she pushed it open. Draco was still sleeping, and she walked over to him. When she tried to wake him, he just mumbled something incoherent and turned over so his head was buried in the pillow. Hermione looked at him and ad to suppress the desire to laugh. If he wasn't going to wake up then she'd have to wake him up. She prepared herself for a moment, before quite literally jumping on top of him so she was sitting on his back. That woke him up as he quite literally lost all the air in his lungs as she winded him. Swearing, he pulled his head from the pillow and turned to look at her. She beamed at him, and he scowled back at her.

"What the hell was that for?" he gasped, irritated.

"Good morning, and Merry Christmas to you too." Hermione told him, beaming. "Time to get up!"

He scowled at her again, before pointing out,

"I can't exactly get up if you're sitting on me."

She laughed at this, before agreeing and getting up off him.

"Get dressed quickly, I want to open presents!" she told him, and he rolled his eyes at her over-enthusiasm.

"Alright, alright! I'm getting up, okay! Shoo!" he told her and she laughed again before leaving the room to go and sit in one of the sofa's in the common room. She looked around, and realised it had been decorated for Christmas, probably by a house elf, while they slept. There was a tall tree in the corner with floating lights on it, and Hermione frowned at it. Realising what was wrong, she walked over to the table with all of the presents piled on and lifted them all with a hover charm. She arranged them neatly under the tree and stood back to admire her handiwork. Just as she did, Draco walked out of his room. He looked at her like she was crazy, and she grinned maniacally at him.

"Presents!" she announced, beaming, and he smiled back and came to sit on the sofa. She grabbed a couple from beneath the tree one for each of them, and they eagerly tore back the wrapping paper. Then, Hermione grabbed some more and opened them. Draco was finished first obviously, with only presents from Hermione (a new scarf), Ginny (who had got him a bag of sweets when she was feeling kind), surprisingly Harry (another bag of sweets, you can never have too many) and the biggest surprise of them all, a present from Dobby (a non-matching pair of socks, but it's the thought that counts).

Hermione, of course, got a lot more than he did. Neville, Dean, Lavender and Parvati had all contributed to a very large encyclopaedia of every spell registered at the ministry which Hermione instantly fell in love with. Ron had even gotten her a book, even though they weren't actually speaking. Ginny had given her a new outfit, with a hint that she should wear it more often, rather than her current clothes (Ginny's subtle way of telling Hermione she dressed badly, which Hermione just laughed at). Her parents sent her some money, as they were unsure what to get her. She received a traditional Weasley jumper as well, which she reluctantly pulled on when Draco insisted.

Once she had opened all of these presents there were only two left, one from Harry, and one from Draco (of course). She tore open Harry's present and gasped. It was, of course, a book. But this wasn't just any book. She beamed as she showed Draco the cover, and he grinned before asking

"Can I read that after you?"

"Of course! I completely forgot this was coming out!" she continued to smile and put the book down, sending a longing glance towards it. Seeing this Draco chuckled and told her,

"You can read it once all the presents are open."

Sending another longing glance towards 'inheritance', the fourth book in the inheritance cycle that both she and Draco loved, she sighed before tearing her gaze away from it. She strode over to the Christmas tree, and grabbed the final present from Draco. She tore open the paper to reveal a long black box. She opened it, and gasped at the beautiful necklace inside.

"Oh Draco. It's beautiful."

She lifted it out of the box, admiring how it caught the light. It was a delicate silver and golden twisted chain with five shields hanging from it. The first shield was split into two halves down the middle and on one side was the Gryffindor crest, on the other was the serpent of Slytherin. All the other four were decorated with golden vines which twisted around two intertwined letters. The second shield had the letters H and D (their first name initials), the third had J and L (for their middle names), the fourth had G and M (for their surnames), and the fifth had G and S standing for their individual houses.

"You like it then?" he asked her nervously. She smiled, at him, before launching herself onto him and kissing him fiercely.

"I love it." She told him, when they pulled apart to breath. He looked slightly dazed; and shook his head lightly to clear it before laughing.

"If this is the reaction I get for giving you gifts, I should do it more often! Let me put it on you." He replied, and she handed her the necklace, he gently clasped it around her neck before spinning her around to kiss her again.

When he pulled away her head was spinning slightly. He chuckled and pulled her down to sit next to him on the sofa. She grabbed the book from the side table and opened it, curling up next to him. She began to read, and soon lost track of the time.

A knock on the door finally pulled her out of her trance with the new book. She looked up startled, and Draco chuckled at her face before getting up and pulling open the door to reveal a beaming Ginny and an amused Harry. Draco sighed as he let them in, and Harry grinned.

"Invasion of the Gryffindors!" Ginny joked, before wandering over to sit next to Hermione on the couch in Draco's recently vacated spot. He scowled at this and went to sit in an armchair. Harry sat down next to Hermione on the other side and poked her. She looked up from her book again having already begun to continue reading it.

" I'm going to stop buying you books if you don't come see us on Christmas day!" he complained, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"'Hey Hermione, how are you, Merry Christmas' wouldn't have been hard to say" she said swatting him on the arm with the book before leaning over Ginny to place it on the table.

"Yeah, whatever" Ginny brushed her off. "We were going to go down for Christmas lunch, want to join us?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Okay then. Wait-," she said glancing at Draco before Ginny cut her off.

"Yes, Malfoy can come too. I dare say he needs to leave this room a bit more."

"Hey! I leave the room!" he protested.

"How many times apart from classes, balls and comforting a distressed Hermione?"

"Erm… a couple."

"And one was when he came to confront me for being a bad friend" Harry helpfully contributed, and regretted it when Draco fixed him with a cold stare.

"Draco, stop intimidating my friend." Hermione chided, and he sighed.

"I can't help it. I must be allergic to too large a concentration of Gryffindors." He cheekily replied, but when she fixed him with a stare, he cowered and sighed. "Alright, I'll stop. Happy now?"

"Very." She told him before getting up off the sofa, brushing the wrinkles out of her clothes and walking over to the portrait hole. She turned back and said to them over her shoulder, "come on then!"

Chuckling, Draco stood up and walked over to stand behind her and she took his hand. Hermione could see Harry pointedly ignoring the fact that his best friend was holding Malfoy's hand, and Hermione sniggered when Ginny hit him on the arm and pulled him unceremoniously off the sofa so he overbalanced and almost crashed into the Christmas tree. Pushing open the portrait she led the way to the great hall before all her friends killed each other, intentionally or not.

**A/N: what am I doing with my life? i mean seriously. ah well. back to phangirling on tumblr. and writing slash you-tube fanfics... what it my life?**

**well, i doubt ill update for a while. at least you're better off than my friends at school, who have totally lost all hope in me. they reached the end of where i wrote to, like 2 months ago, and I actually haven't written any more since. in future, i will finish things before putting them up here, or giving them to people to read...**


	11. Flying, Falling, Fighting

**A/N: hello internet! I'm updating again (i know, it's been ages, blah blah blah.**

**This is quite short, so apologies. but it's actually all I've written. like, I've actually caught up with what I've written on my word document. even though I wrote more yesterday. oh dear.**

**I aim to finish this by the end of November, it's coming to a close now. probably three more chapters and an epilogue?**

**Unlike most writers on here (I guess) I will not be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, for several reasons. 1- it's GCSE year and I have like a bazillion controlled assessments and mocks this month. 2- I couldn't come up with any ideas. 3- I am really busy, what with GCSE's, Music centre, choir, 3/4 instruments and YouTube stalking. So instead of doing Nanowrimo I thought I'd try and finish this this month instead. (but don't hold me to that)**

**sorry for the excessively long A/N, but it needed to be said.**

**I was kind of sad not getting any reviews at all last chapter, but I guess I deserved it for laving you hanging for sooo long. but please R&R.. it'll make me happy :)**

**my heart also goes out to any Americans affected by sandy. personally I'm from the land of crumpets and police boxes (AKA England), but I know a lot of my readers are american. so, i hope everything's fine for you 3**

**Disclaimer: I may now be the owner of an official danisnotonfire llama hat currently in the post, but i do not own HP. or anything you recognise. or England. I'm not the queen, sorry to ruin your dreams. (or am I?) but seriously, that would be awesome, a fan fiction writing queen...**

"I'm going out flying." Draco told Hermione, and she looked over at him. He was holding his broom, and she smiled at him before saying,

"Have fun." He didn't leave though, and when she looked up at him again he was looking at her curiously.

"Do you not like flying?" he asked, obviously having picked up on the slight distaste in her expression when she'd seen the broomstick.

"I can't actually fly." She admitted.

"Yes you can." He told her, and she raised an eyebrow. "You flew out of the room of requirement with me and Goyle."

"Well, I wasn't exactly flying. I was just sitting behind Ron really."

"I heard you had to do some flying to get through all those obstacles in first year. Something about catching a key?"

"Alright, alright, I can fly! I just…" she trailed off into silence, and resolutely avoided his eyes.

"You just what?" he asked, not willing to let it go.

"I don't like it much okay! I'm not that great at it, so I don't enjoy it much."

"You don't like flying because you're not amazing at it? That's ridiculous! You get to be amazing through practise Hermione."

"Well, it never really occurred to me to practise and get better. Harry was just brilliant from the start, he never had to practice."

"Well, that's Potter for you. Extremely lucky."

"Can't argue with you there."

"Well then, seeing as I'm right, what would you say to coming flying with me sometime?"

"Well… alright. But only if you stop smirking like that."

"I'm wounded! I thought you liked my smirk!" Draco said, placing a hand over his hand in mock offense.

"Oh, stop acting. And wipe that pout off your face too." She told him, without even looking at him; she'd already turned back to the book she curled up with. He looked at her for a few moments, before announcing,

"How about, you come flying with me now?"

"What, right now?"

"Yep" he replied, the challenge obvious in his eyes. Never one to back down from a challenge, Hermione closed her book and stood up.

"Alright then, what are we waiting for?" she asked, and he seemed taken aback for a moment, he obviously hadn't expected her to actually agree.

"I'll get you my spare broom."

"You have two brooms?" she asked, her nose slightly wrinkled in distaste at his excessive amounts of money.

"Don't worry; I don't spend that much money. It's just my old broom from when I was learning to fly."

"Why do you have it with you in school?"

"Because I don't have anywhere else to keep my possessions."

"What about the manor?" Hermione asked with a curious look.

"The ministry haven't got around to searching it for dark artefacts yet, so I'm not allowed to go there. I don't want the ministry going through all the private things I have that mean something to me, so I keep them at Hogwarts." He explained a weary look on his face. Hermione smiled sadly at him, before walking over to him and prodding him when he didn't go anywhere. He frowned and rubbed his arm where she'd poked him. "What was that for?"

"Go fetch then!"

Rolling his eyes and muttering about how he wasn't 'a bloody dog', he obeyed and got her the broom. He then walked with her down to the grounds, handing her the broom before they left the room. When they reached the grounds, Hermione looked at the broom nervously. Draco noticed the look, and she explained,

"I haven't actually flown on my own since first year."

"You'll be fine." He reassured her. "It's like riding a bike." Hermione shot him a look, surprised by his use of a muggle phrase, and he grinned back.

Hermione mounted the broom and pushed off from the ground. Gaining control, she realised she actually quite enjoyed the feeling of weightlessness. It was nice to be able to fly without the threat of her impending death on the horizon, like the last two times.

Draco pushed off from the ground and joined her in mid-air. He grinned at her, before speeding away over to the forbidden forest. Hermione laughed and sped after him, catching him up easily. She sped past him, and turned back and shouted,

"Come on then! I thought you were supposed to be a good flyer!" there was a glint of something in his eyes, before he took off at top speed, speeding past her away from the castle. She raced after him, determined not to be left behind, when suddenly he swerved and came flying right at her. Her eyes widened, and she closed them, fearing a collision, but he swerved below her just in time, laughing at her expression. She opened her eyes again, and when she realised what had happened she started laughing herself. They were both completely caught up in their laughter and fun that neither of them noticed the commotion going on in the forest below.

Suddenly, a flash of light flew out of the forest straight at Draco and hit him square in the chest. His expression froze, and he toppled off his broom in surprise. Hermione screamed, but he managed to disapparate before he hit the ground since they were outside Hogwarts grounds. She didn't know where he'd gone, but she'd deal with that later. She drew her wand, and fired hexes into the forest below, but she couldn't see any of her attackers because they were shielded by trees. Realising there was nothing she could do but run, she turned her broom and flew as fast as she could towards Hogwarts, dodging a few hexes aimed at her.

She reached the grounds, and toppled off her broom onto the grass by the lake, and ran into the castle. She immediately went to professor McGonagall to warn them that someone had attacked her. She'd just explained the entire incident to the headmistress when there was a loud alarm screech, and the professor went deathly pale.

"What does that mean professor?" Hermione asked, worried by the lack of colour on the older woman's face.

"That means that Hogwarts is under attack." She told Hermione gravely, and drew her wand running from the room as quickly as she could.

Hermione ducked to avoid a jet of violet light that flew towards her from the attackers down below. She put her head back out the window and shot a spell into the mass of attackers and grinned as she saw one fall. She suddenly became aware of something flying towards her at high speed and ducked to avoid it hitting her, prepared to hit it if it proved to be dangerous with a jinx. It flew in over her head and settled on the ground next to her. She sighed with relief when she saw it was only an owl. It had a letter attached to its leg, and recognising Draco's writing she felt a wave of relief. She hadn't been able to sleep the past two days, not even knowing if he was alive. Fighting was the only thing that kept her distracted.

She read the short note eagerly; it simply consisted of an address and an apology for making her worry. Hermione ran downstairs and along the corridor, halting at their portrait hole. She spoke the password, and then tore open the door. She grabbed the broom that she'd left on the table and ran from the room again, already mounting the broom. She took off and flew out of the nearest window as fast as she could. She had to get out of Hogwarts before she could apparate to the address he'd sent her. She briefly considered that it could be a trap, and then decided it didn't matter. Even if there was only a chance that this was real, she was still going.

As she flew away from the castle she heard someone calling her name, obviously worried about where she was going off to. She ignored it and carried on flying. The moment she felt herself pass through the anti-apparition wards she disapparated to the address she'd been given, taking the broom with her.

She appeared in front of a small shack on the coast and drew her wand, immediately alert. She was slightly surprised, this wasn't the sort of place she expected him to be. Carefully approaching the door, she pushed it and it swung open to reveal the interior of a shabbily furnished cottage. She stepped inside and immediately noticed the signs of someone staying in the cottage. She pushed open another door into a small room with a table and a couple of chairs and saw a figure slumped in one of the chairs. Recognising it as Draco because of his trademark white-blond hair, she walked over and sat in front of him. He lifted his head off the table and Hermione was happy to see that he didn't appear to be injured. However, he did look very depressed, and Hermione voiced her concern for him.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, and he sighed.

"Hi Hermione." he responded, deliberately avoiding her question. When she glared at him for a few minutes he sighed and gave in. "Yes, and no." he answered, and she looked at him like he'd spontaneously grown two heads. "I'm not injured or anything" he clarified, "but I've lost my magic." She looked at him completely shocked, and when she finally found her voice she asked,

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm bloody sure! I wouldn't just say something like that!" he snapped.

Hermione held his gaze for a moment, and then shook her head.

"That's not possible. There is no spell that can remove someone's magic. Suppress it, yes, but not remove it."

Something flashed in Draco's eyes, possibly a glimmer of hope, before he quelled it.

"You don't know that for certain." He sighed.

Hermione looked at him, slightly irritated with how stupid he was being. She reached over to grab his hand, and point her wand at it. He flinched but didn't pull his hand away. She muttered a quick spell, and then smiled smugly at him when a purple glow appeared around his hand. He looked lost, so she sighed and explained

"It's a magic detecting spell. It glows purple," she told him, emphasising the purple, "when there's magic in the object or person. So you haven't lost your magic, you idiot!"

"Oh. But, I can't use it." He grimly told her. She rolled her eyes.

"If you'd just shut up and listen for once, then I could tell you that I can brew you a potion in about 20 minutes that will heal you!"

"Oh. Sorry." Draco said, looking very sheepish. Hermione shook her head at his stupidity, then stood up and walked over to the window.

"Why are you here anyway? Why here?"

"I'm not really sure; it's just where I ended up." He explained, and then fell silent. "Well, we need to get you back to Hogwarts so that you can brew up that potion…" Draco ventured after a moment and she grimaced.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. The castle is still under attack and you wouldn't be able to defend yourself…"

He gave her a look that clearly said he could look after himself, but she refused to give in. "we're going to get Harry." She declared, and he groaned.

"Great, let's go get the boy wonder!" he said, letting his head drop onto the table quite hard. Hermione gave him the look for a few moments, until he sighed, and stood up saying, "alright, we'll go get Harry."

"Good" she said smiling, before grabbing his hand and apparating away without any warning.

**A/N: leave a review if you want to say anything, or you enjoyed etc...**

**seriously though, you guys are so awesome. i don't care if your a potterhead or not, a phangirl or a creeper, i love you all.**

**(seriously though, if there are any other members of the phandom please tell me so i feel less alone 3. we can have feels together)**


	12. Fighting, Acceptance and Happy Endings

**A/N: well. hi. um, I don't really know what to say. looking back, I know I said I would finish this in November but things got stressful. loads of coursework, GCSE mocks, clarinet exam, English C/A, revision, a million concerts (seriously, I had 7 in one week!). and I did fall very ill (like seriously ill.) and got addicted to tumblr.**

**I know none of those are acceptable excuses, and I really am sorry.**

**I also stopped shipping this pairing as hard, but I felt I really ought to at least finish this.**

**I'm quite proud of it, so here you go. the final chapter (there will be an epilogue).**

**enjoy. **

**-Charlie x**

**Disclaimer: in my long period of absence, i received many things (birthday presents, Christmas presents, illnesses) but the letter from J.K. telling me I owned HP was not one of them. hopefully it just got lost in the post though. **

They appeared on the doorstep of grimmauld place, where Hermione knew Harry and Ginny were staying. Hermione knocked on the door but didn't let go of Draco's hand, and smiled across at him when he looked at her quizzically. The door opened to reveal Harry, who grinned and pulled his best friend into a hug.

"What are you doing here?" he said, glancing between the both of them. Hermione sighed and pushed past him into the house dragging Draco with her.

"It's a long story. Can I use your potions kit?"

"Um, sure?" Harry responded, seeming very confused.

Hermione simply grabbed his potions equipment from where it sat on a shelf and retreated to the next room to brew Draco's potion. Harry looked after her with extreme confusion written all over his face and glanced at Draco helplessly. Taking pity on him, Draco brought him up to speed with the attack on the castle and his loss of magic.

By the time he had brought Harry completely up to speed Hermione had finished her potion and walked back into the room with it, handing it to Draco who eyed it curiously for a moment before drinking it all down. He smirked as he felt his magic all returning to him and his hand subconsciously found his wand. Hermione collapsed in a chair, and Harry gestured for Draco to sit as well as he took his own seat.

"So" Harry ventured after a moment. "The castle is under attack"

"Yeah. It's probably rogue death eaters, but there were too many for us to fight." Hermione explained, and Harry shared a look with her.

"Well then" he said grinning; I guess I should get my broom then."

At that very moment there was a knock on the door and Harry got up to answer it. He walked out and Hermione and Draco heard the door open. There was a silence in the hall, before someone walked in and Harry shut the door again. Harry reappeared in the living room, and an extremely familiar and sheepish looking red-head entered after him. Hermione froze at the sight of Ron, and Draco reached out and took her hand from the chair he had taken next to her. Ron scowled at the joined hands, but sensibly chose not to say anything.

"Um...hi." He said awkwardly, looking anywhere but at the other people in the room.

Hermione narrowed his eyes at him, pulled her hand from Draco's, stood up and strode over to Ron. She stood in front of him, and he bit his lip pointedly avoiding her eyes. Her eyes narrowed even more, if that was possible. Draco and Harry glanced at each other, both knowing what was coming next. After a long pause, Ron finally looked at Hermione and smiled tentatively. And that was obviously when she lifted her hand, and slapped him. Hard. Very hard.

"Ow! Bloody hell Hermione!" he complained, cradling his cheek, and Hermione continued to glare at him. His hand went back to rub at the back of his neck. After a moment in which she stared at him, still looking very, very pissed, he sighed. "Look, I'm really, really, sorry Hermione. And you Harry. And you too I suppose Malfoy. I was… well, I was a bit of a dick."

"A bit of a dick?" Harry raised an eyebrow at Ron, who flushed.

"Okay, a humongous jerk. I just… oh I don't know." He trailed off, looking back at the floor.

"Well. Suppose we all make mistakes." Harry said, obviously trying to keep the peace and, being the extremely forgiving person he was, seeming to have forgiven Ron completely.

As if reading Hermione's and Draco's rather shocked and indignant minds, he added, "not that I've forgiven you. Not yet".

"S'pose that's fair." Ron replied, and then awkwardly shuffled his feet.

"Well…" Draco drawled, obviously trying to wind up Ron, and Hermione turned the furious glare she had trained on Ron on him momentarily and he held up his hands in surrender. "Anyway" he added in a more normal tone of voice, "I think we ought to be getting back to Hogwarts. We can do the happy reunion stuff later, maybe?"

"Right. Well. Brooms?" Harry asked, and Hermione bit her lip before nodding. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to do any more flying after the last few days, but it was the fastest way to get back to Hogwarts. "Well, you and Draco will have to share my spare, if that's alright?" he asked Hermione, and Ron's face twisted slightly but he wisely said nothing. He walked out of the room, presumably to fetch the brooms, leaving Hermione, Ron, and Draco in the room Ron looked like he desperately wanted to say something, but he kept glancing over at Draco and biting his lip. Sighing, the blond rolled his eyes before getting up and leaving the room, squeezing Hermione's hand lightly as he passed her.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Ron. "Did you want to say something?" she asked, her tone very cold. Ron visibly paled, and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Look, I really am sorry Hermione."

"Oh, what for Ronald? For ignoring me all year? For calling me a 'lying cheating bitch' in front of the whole school? For acting like the biggest jerk of all time?"

"Well, all of the above really." Ron admitted and he looked completely sincere for once. Hermione found that she couldn't stay mad at him, even though she most definitely hadn't forgiven him _quite_ yet.

It was at this exact moment that Harry chose to re-enter the room, trailing a rather amused Slytherin who had evidently been listening in on their conversation. They were both carrying a broom, and Hermione chose to simply ignore the ginger nuisance who she couldn't quite hate.

"Let's go." She said, sweeping past the boys and out of the room. They followed, of course.

The flight to Hogwarts was uneventful, and even though Hermione knew she was returning to what was quite possibly a war zone, she almost enjoyed it. After all, it was warm and nice, having Draco pressed up against her back with his arms wrapped around her as he steered the broom, breathing in his scent. Strangely relaxing, even if she was a several hundred feet off the ground.

They landed by the lake, the eerie silence snapping Hermione out of her tranquil frame of mind and into a state of acute alertness. The silence was evidently putting the other three on edge as well, if their facial expressions were anything to go by. Hermione, Draco and Harry all simultaneously drew their wands, poised to defend themselves, and Ron followed suit a few moments later, fumbling and almost dropping it before raising it like the other three. There was a crack from behind them, and Hermione turned swiftly to see… nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Something wasn't right here. She cast a quick spell, letting her mind form the words 'homenum revelio'. Immediately, figures were made known to her behind them and she whipped around casting the counter spell to their disillusionment charms. About 15 black robed figures appeared and then, suddenly, they were duelling. Flashes of light all around them, the four of them fighting back, and winning despite being so outnumbered. Harry and Ron worked how they always had, as a unit, and Hermione found herself and Draco seemingly mimicking them and forming a team. The 'death eaters', though they couldn't really be called that when their leader had been dead for nearly a year, fell within minutes. The four of them looked at each other, slightly flushed but not exhausted, and simultaneously ran towards the school.

They burst in through the front doors, and immediately were transported back to the battle at the end of the previous year. Same collection of robed students fighting alongside adults, against figures in dark cloaks and expressions of pure evil. The only real difference was the conspicuous lack of a leader, and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. At least they wouldn't have to deal with another lord Voldemort, one country-wide horcrux hunt was enough for a lifetime. Actually no, it was enough for several lifetimes.

The others had evidently noticed this, and they joined in the fighting. There were a lot of death eaters, but it was obvious that they wouldn't win in the end. Even so, the black shrouded figures were fighting back viciously, and a body fell beside them. Hermione could pinpoint the exact moment when Harry lost control, and winced.

He stepped forward into the front of the fighting, and shot a large bolt of lightening into the ceiling. Strange, Hermione couldn't recall him being able to do that before. All wizards, good and bad alike, turned to look at the noise and sudden eruption of light. Harry shouted over the hall.

"You know who I am. You know what I've done. You don't stand a chance. I'm Harry Potter and this is my school!"

Draco chuckled beside Hermione, and she looked over at him.

"Well, he has his uses, does wonder boy." He murmured and Hermione found herself grinning as the death eaters, realising who it was they were looking at, all turned and ran away simultaneously. Hermione wouldn't have been surprised if several of them had actually wet their pants, by the terrified looks on their faces.

And as they stood there in the sudden peace and quiet, surrounded by the debris of the battle, Hermione intertwined her hand with Draco's and they stood there, just looking at the students as they began to clear the disaster area. There would be nothing to show this had ever happened but memories soon.

"You okay?" she asked, her voice soft, and he looked at her before leaning down slightly to press their lips together sweetly.

" I'm fantastic." He replied, and she stood up on tiptoe to kiss him again. And it was perfect.

**A/N: so. its over. I've been writing this for almost a year now, and it's the first large thing I've ever finished writing. if you enjoyed it then check out some of my other writing on here and on tumblr- charimerbluesky obviously. **

**please Review if you enjoyed it. **

**thank you so much for being with me on every step of this journey. I'm actually a bit emotional.**

**also, the rating of this story will be dropped to teen because I didn't actually write any lemons like I had planned to.**

**the epilogue will be up later today.**

**-Charlie x**


	13. Growing old together, and Goodbye

**A/N: Charlie does epilogue! yay! I promised later today, and this time I'm keeping that promise. this is finally over now, so goodbye. It feels like my baby is all grown up! Enjoy x**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter would i really be on here writing this? No, I'd be publishing another HP book. but I'm not, because I'm not J.K. *makes sad face***

They weren't always perfect, Hermione and Draco. They had their arguments, and differences, and there were times when they both hurt each other's emotions so deeply it was physically painful. But they always made it through in the end, because they knew they could make it. When they'd already overcome so much, no small argument could keep them apart.

They married, in a small ceremony, about three years later, with Hermione's fully restored parents and some close friends in a small church. The reporters had left them alone after Hermione had threatened to turn them all into rats and set her new cat, crookshanks junior, on them. Draco secretly thought they were right to be scared, his wife terrified him as well.

Hermione got a job, working in new magical and scientific research, and it was all she'd ever wanted to be. It was perfect. Draco, surprisingly, took up writing as a career and became well known in both the wizarding and muggle world. Hermione introduced her oblivious husband to the wonderful world of the internet, and for several weeks he barely ventured out into the real world when Hermione wasn't home.

They had children, and bought a larger house as their family grew to the five of them. Their three kids were perfect in their eyes, just as all children are to their parents. Arya, their first daughter, was aptly named after a character from the book Eragon which had brought them together in the first place. Hermione had chastised Draco for being overly soppy and romantic when he suggested it, but had liked it, so Arya it was. Their only son was named Christopher, for no sentimental reason other than they had both liked the name. Their youngest child, a beautiful blonde who was as passionate as her mother, was named Narcissa, after her grandmother. Draco had almost cried when she had suggested it, and they had both agreed that it was perfect.

The years passed, and time moved on. Hermione and Draco got older, their children growing from toddlers, to children, and finally into teenagers, packed off to Hogwarts every year. Arya ended up in Ravenclaw, unsurprising as she had most definitely inherited both of her parents' intellect. Christopher was placed in Slytherin, a house whose reputation was finally improving and which was shaking off the prejudices attached to it by turning out many great and good witches and wizards. And Narcissa ended up in Gryffindor, taking after her mother in every respect but looks.

They grew older still, and their children left Hogwarts. Hermione retired, and they lived alone in a small cottage by the sea. Their children married and had children of their own, and so life continued.

Both lived to a ripe old age, and when they finally left this world, it was happy in the knowledge that, really, they had done well.


End file.
